Ash and Togepi
by Kittykat1418
Summary: What if instead of Pikachu, Ash received an egg that quickly hatched into an Togepi. Can he win the Pokemon league whilst looking after a baby Pokemon? What would happen differently by having a different starter. Different starter for Ash story. Slightly smarter Ash, he still has his tendencies. Pokeshipping story. Rated T for baby care and generally just violent Pokemon battles.
1. Egg hatching

Now, this story's gonna be another anime-remake with a Pokemon that's not Pikachu as Ash's starter. But I've been looking at the trope and saw none of this Pokemon: Togepi and its line. I've seen Riolu, Meowstic and many others. Myself, I've used Poliwag's line. But I'm very shocked by the lack of Togepi, I suppose it's because of Misty's one from later on. But this one will be very similar to Misty's Togepi, though you'll find out why as we get through.

* * *

Ash Ketchum had just turned 10 recently, he had always had the dream of becoming a Pokemon Master. It was his life goal and he wanted to see it through many times, but children had to wait until their tenth birthday before they could receive their starter Pokemon. And even then, it sometimes was a wait as the local professor may not have the three typical starters. However, Ash had recently heard the news that the Kanto region's Professor Oak had recieved the three starters and that he could begin his journey the very next day. At the moment, he was sat watching TV of a battle that had happened during the last Pokemon League.

Gengar versus Nidorino, it was a common fight with neither side having a particular strength over each other. Nidorino's trainer called for a Shadow Claw, which would be super effective against the Gengar. But soon enough, their battle was over as Gengar used Hypnosis when Nidorino got close enough to be hit without a chance of missing. The Nidorino collapsed to the ground, sleeping now from the effects of the move. The trainer was quick to switch Pokemon though, sending out the large Rock Snake Pokemon, Onix. It roared loudly, preparing itself for battle. Well...just as the TV was switched off.

Ash turned to see his mother, Delia, with a very stern expression of her face. She definitely wasn't impressed to see him so awake. "Now, you. Young mister, should be getting to sleep. You don't want to oversleep and miss getting your starter tomorrow now do you."

"But, I'm too excited to sleep!" he tried to argue, though he could see her point. He did really want a starter, he couldn't wait to get out and become a Pokemon trainer. To begin following in his father's foot prints.

"Well, if you won't sleep. Then you could at least begin preparing yourself for tomorrow," she turned the TV back on and switched the channel to a educational show, where Professor Oak was talking about the trio Kanto starters: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. Ash listened intently, thinking over which starter he would choose as each had their advantages and disadvantages. He had heard that the first gym was rock gym, though both it's Pokemon were part ground-type too. So water and grass would be the reasonable options, but Charmander grew into the powerful Charizard that every child seemed to want at his age.

* * *

The next morning came, Ash being jolted awake by the crash of his Voltorb Alarm. He had been thinking still about the starters, and had even thought of throwing a poke ball in his sleep. Thus, he had accidentally thrown the alarm clock which caused it to smash into the nearby wall and wake him. He was shocked, checking the broken clock. Since it had only just smashed, it still was able to tell him reasonably what time it was. He was vastly late, apparently staying up late had caused him to oversleep after all.

He was quick to bolt down stairs, like he was on fire or something. He grabbed a slice of toast, that his mother had pre-made and left the house with a slam of the door and a quick 'see you, mom!' that only caused Delia to sigh. The young lad began to run through Pallet Town, hoping and praying that there was a starter remaining for him and he didn't have to wait any longer. He nearly fell down the hill in his mad rush, but made it to the lab in one piece - somehow. Outside of the library was Ash's childhood friend and long-time rival, Gary Oak. He was pridefully showing off his new Squirtle to an adoring crowd and boasting that he would win the Indigo League. But he wasn't the only one there with a starter, no. There was another one of Ash's childhood friends, Leaf Green, who was holding a Bulbasaur in her arms.

Ash walked over, nervous that he may not get a starter. He took a place next to Leaf, who looked annoyed at Gary's constant boasting. But she eventually saw the black haired boy next to her and smiled. "Morning, Ash. Did you sleep in or something? Considering how excited you were, I bet you had trouble sleeping or something?"

"Bulba!" her grass-type nodded in agreement, giving a grin up to Ash.

He nodded, with a aura of annoyance around him. He didn't like being teased about his lack of tack when it came to sleeping or eating in some cases. He was 10, he wasn't really supposed to be completely responsible at the end of the day. But his thoughts turned to something that was more interesting to him at the time. "...Is there a starter Pokemon left, Leaf?"

"Well..." she said with a mild frown, but she didn't get to continue and answer his question as Gary came over.

"My, isn't it Ash Ketchum. I thought that kids, who oversleep weren't allowed to come and collect a Pokemon," he called, boastfully. His Squirtle seemed to copy his actions, giving a prideful look as well.

"I didn't intend to oversleep if you wanna know, Gary. Now, would you get out of the way? I want to ask the Professor if he has any starters left over," Ash said, skillfully ducking Gary as the Mahogany haired boy tried to prevent Ash from going up the steps. The black haired boy in his pajamas just chuckled, as Gary yelled in annoyance. He didn't care what Gary thought, he just wanted a starter Pokemon and he was gonna get one regardless of his own thoughts of worry. He pushed open the lab's door and saw Professor Oak inside. The man looked a bit apologetic when he saw Ash. The 10 year old didn't notice though as he asked. "Do you have a Pokemon left?"

"Well, we're out of the three starter Pokemon. We hadn't expected four trainers today, but I do happen to have another Pokemon for you. Mr Pokemon from the Johto Region sent this egg over to me a little while back," he held a spotty egg in front of Ash, handing it to him. It was shaking and near glowing, there was also noises emitting from within. "I'm wasn't sure what I would do with it, but it's near hatching and I'd rather it be with a trainer then in this lab. So you can take it as soon as it hatches. Mr Pokemon said he made sure that the Pokemon within had a couple of egg moves since it doesn't normally get a move when it first hatches."

Ash looked down at the egg with curiosity, but he gave a bright smile to the man before him. He had his first Pokemon, admitting it was an egg. But it was still gonna hatch into his starter Pokemon! "Thank you, Professor. I'll be sure to look after the Pokemon, you can count on me!"

It was at that moment that the egg decided to hatch, cracking at the top and slowly the cracks began to move down. But weirdly, the egg didn't fall off the Pokemon from within. It stayed attached, as a pair of arms and a head peaked out of the crack. There was also a small pair of legs coming from the bottom of the egg shell and seemed to be rounded within. The sudden moment caused Ash to fall onto his bottom, as he held the Pokemon in his arms. It stared at him, with intrigue in his face as it cried out. "Toge?"

"Hello there, little one. Aren't you a little cutie," Ash grinned, bouncing the egg-like Pokemon up and down in his hands. It seemed to be enjoying it, despite how dangerous it looked from afar. He then looked up at Professor Oak, holding the young baby in his arms. "What is this Pokemon, Professor? None of the videos or toys ever show this Pokemon."

"I'm not fully sure, it's a Johto-originated Pokemon for sure though. Maybe this Pokedex will be able to tell you," the Professor said, handing Ash a Pokedex so he could check the data. He watched with intrigue, the little baby Pokemon was quite cute and mysterious.

Ash didn't reply, as he cracked the dex open and scanned his new little one with it. The baby seemed excited by the tech, trying to reach out for it in an adorable manner. But Ash kept it out of the Pokemon's reach as the dex finally finished scanning and began to list off what the Pokemon was, it's gender and a few other minor details that could be very helpful to a beginning trainer.

 **Togepi, the Spike Ball Pokemon. As its energy, Togepi uses the positive emotions of compassion and pleasure exuded by people and Pokemon. This Pokemon then stores up feelings of happiness inside its shell, then shares them with others. This particular Togepi is female, with the ability Serene Grace. She knows the moves: Growl, Charm, Extrasensory, Peck and Psycho Shift.**

Ash smiled brightly, hugging the Togepi closely. He began to tickle her, which gave her cute little giggles, as he complimented her poke dex entry. "Seems like your a very kind Pokemon, Togepi. Sharing happiness with others!"

"Prii!" she cried happily, hugging the boy. She seemed to have grown attached to him, like she saw him as her daddy or something. Maybe that was so, it was known for newly born babies, Pokemon and human alike, to imprint on the first thing they see.

Ash stood up, holding the Togepi in his arms like a teddy. "Well, she hatched. Can I begin my journey now?" He was very excitable and it seemed to rub off onto the infant in his arms, as she gave an excitable cry too.

The Professor chuckled, the bond that had formed between the boy and his Togepi was very evident and looked generally sweet like a father and daughter relationship sort of bond. "Of course, just be sure that you put Togepi in a poke ball before you run off. Oh and you can keep that Pokedex," the man then handed 5 poke balls to Ash and said. "Use them well, they will allow you to catch more Pokemon that you can use on your journey. Togepi is still young, she's not gonna be able to fight well so I would suggest obtaining another Pokemon to help her."

"I understand," Ash nodded, as he quickly captured the Spike Ball Pokemon into one of the poke ball. He then sent her back out, the little Pokemon give an excitable cry. He picked her back up and said in an energetic and enthusiastic voice. "Lets begin our journey, Togepi!" as he began to run to the door, making sure to wave at the Professor as he jolted out of the door. "I can't wait!"

"Togeprii!"

* * *

Okay, short and simple. I'm rather surprised by the lack of Togepi as a starter stories, especially with pokeshipping as a key. And yes, if you didn't see the character tags already, this is a pokeshipping story.


	2. Food and Shinx

Okay, two chapters is one day. Since I don't have school today (Not feeling all that great, can write weirdly though XD) I can submit too and get away with it. Might as well mention; like some of my other stories, the Pokemon that appear will be based on votes done by my comments. I know there's the polls, but I feel like I got more votes from the comments then I did from the one poll I used. Only one Pokemon will be my own decision (Besides Togepi), which will be in this chapter.

* * *

Ash stood at the entrance to Route 1, alongside Leaf. The girl had stayed behind, hoping to meet Ash's starter. Her surprise was evident by the sight of the newborn Pokemon in his arms, but she quickly got over it and introduced her Bulbasaur to the little Togepi. Her Bulbasaur, a young male, shared in her kindness and even sang a 'bulbably' as Leaf called it to put the baby to sleep. The two grinned at one another, as Ash held his sleeping Togepi in his arms. "So, are we heading out. Or do we have a battle first?"

"Well, I'd rather not harm your little Togepi. So me and Bulbasaur are just gonna head out," the brown haired girl smiled, getting a pleasant 'Bulba' from the Pokemon at her feet. She smiled, walking into Route 1 and doing a twirl to look back at Ash. "See you later, maybe at the next town or even at the league. I don't care, but I promise you that I'll battle you when Togepi's more grown."

"You've got it!" Ash gave a thumbs up, as he too began his walk. One thing that he knew he needed to do was get a Pokemon to stand alongside Togepi. The problem with that was that the Kanto Region's initial routes often didn't include very good Pokemon. But he knew a little trick, one thing he had heard before leaving was if you played songs from Hoenn or Sinnoh via your radio then you were likely to encounter Pokemon from those regions. For route 1 and 2, the trio of Pokemon were Plusle, Minun and Shinx. Plusle and Minun didn't have evolutions and catching both to have any chance to using them - especially with the lack of double battles in the Kanto region - seemed a little unnecessary. Whilst, he had seen images of Shinx's evolution line in the poke dex and was very impressed by Luxray, it just looked so cool and would be a nice counterpart to the cuteness of Togepi's line - he had looked them up and how to evolve them.

After a little walk, he settled down and changed Togepi's position. He had brought two bags, one sturdy and the other less so. The sturdy one was empty and the perfect size to fit the little Spike Ball Pokemon, so he placed her in and then pulled the bag onto his back with the tiny infant sleeping within. As for the other bag, he just placed all his stuff within and placed it on him. He then gently pulled the fabric lid over Togepi's head so she was warm as he walked off. He pulled his radio out and clicked through it until he found the 'Sinnoh songs' listing. He then sat down a nearby log and waited.

The Sinnoh songs were very intriguing to hear, some were upbeat and happy-go-lucky whilst others were relaxed and mellow. But they combined together to sound just amazing and the effect of drawing Shinx worked out rather quickly. The Flash Pokemon's yellow eyes stared at Ash with curiosity, before it hopped over with the movements of a Buneary. "Shinx?" it then hopped onto the log next to him and sniffed around, before giving a pitifully whine. "Nx..."

Ash looked at it, with a sense of uncertainty. He didn't want to share the little Lynx-like Pokemon and asked. "Oh, your hungry?" he pulled into his bag and got out some Pokemon food from a tin. He then sprinkled the brown pieces on the log and waited. The Shinx looked at the food for a moment, then up at him and then back down. Then it began to eat with a happy and adorable cry. Ash smiled, watching the cute little Pokemon eat. Sure Luxray looked cool, but as the little Shinx looked at the moment - it was just plain adorable.

Once it was finished, it looked up at Ash with expecting eyes. "Oh, I don't have any left. But if you come along with me and Togepi on our journey, you can get many more!"

"Shinx!" the Pokemon nodded, seemingly accepting the idea. Ash chuckled, thinking that his first capture may be a little too easy. But at the end of the day, Shinx wanted food and took the concept of being a trainer's Pokemon quite well as it could eat more. He got a empty poke ball out and gently tapped Shinx's head with it and waited as red light absorbed the Pokemon. The ball repeatedly shook in his hand, but soon the red light faded as a click was heard. Capture! "Yay, I just caught my second Pokemon."

Suddenly, a movement was heard from his bag as Togepi peeked her head out and asked with a pleasant. "Toge?"

"Oh, sorry to wake you. We have a new friend, wanna meet them?"

"Prii!" the little cutie said, excitedly waiting for her daddy to open the poke ball back up. Ash smiled, sending the young Shinx back out. Togepi somehow pulled herself out of the bag and hopped down. Ash was a little scared for the Spike Ball Pokemon's safety, but she landed with a cute twirl. Maybe the safe landing was a unique hint towards her evolutions, she was gonna evolve into a fairy/flying type at the end of the day. She was quick to wave her arms in a cute manner as she said 'hello' to the Shinx. "Toge-toge!"

Shinx seemed happy to meet the little egg-like Pokemon and nuzzled against her, before wrapping it's star tail around the baby's body. Ash smiled at the cute scene, before getting his pokedex out. He knew that he needed to scan the electric type and work out everything he needed to know for raising the young lynx cub. It took some time, which allowed Ash to continue watching his Pokemon's cute actions. They were playing with each other, Shinx running around Togepi as the younger of the two Pokemon seemed to be testing a new move: Metronome. The movement of her arms made her 'Bounce' up high, much to Ash's surprise and intrigue. It was just the that the pokedex connected and started making lists.

 **Shinx, the Flash Pokemon. All of its fur dazzles if danger is sensed. It flees while the foe is momentarily blinded. This particular Shinx is male with the ability Guts. He knows the moves: Flash, Facade, Ice Fang, Tackle and Leer.**

"Guts huh, that ability that boosts your attack power when under a status condition?" Ash questioned, trying to comprehend that. It would only activate every now and again, but the Pokemon also had Facade to help out the power of status conditions on the young Shinx. "Well, you don't have any electric moves yet. But we'll work you up for that, won't we?"

"Shinx!" the Pokemon cried with energy. He seemed happy and prepared to battle, his fur becoming spiky from the thought of battles.

"Plus, your Ice Fang will come in handy against Brock's Geodude and Onix," Ash said, knowing about how ground types are weak to ice moves. Maybe the lack of electricity could be in his favor with this lynx cub. "And if I remember correctly, his Onix has Toxic. Maybe we could activate your ability and run rampage on it." The Shinx just grinned, even more prepared for battle. His teeth even sharped with ice at the thought, which impressed Ash quite a bit. "We just need to confirm that you have perfected that move by the time we arrive in Pewter City."

Ash looked through the pokedex at the Pewter Gym's rooster. "Yah, Geodude has Tackle, Defense Curl and Rock Tomb. A bit scary, Rock Tomb isn't super effective but would lower your speed dramatically. But if it doesn't get away with a curl then you should be able to take it down with two hits," he explained to the Shinx, who know was on the log with him and looking down at the pictures the pokedex showed. Even Togepi was showing interest, having climbed onto her daddy's lap. "It's the Onix we have to be careful with. It was Toxic, which is helpful but could cripple you too. Bind, that would make you nearly able to move under that rock body of it. And it has Tackle and Rock Tomb like Geodude, but I explained how that'll work."

"Shinx!" the Flash Pokemon responded with confidence, he would beat the first gym for his trainer. He was sure of that. "Shi-Shinx!" he continued, nodding his head in a fierce manner. He then turned to Ash and asked, more confusedly. "Shi?"

Ash took a moment of confusion to work out what his new Pokemon had asked. "Oh, do you want my name?" he got a nod from the electric lynx. "Oh, it's Ash. Why do you wanna know?"

"Shinx-shi!" suddenly the Shinx called out, "Shinx-shi," he was smiling brightly, like he had just decided on something really imported.

"What you mean by that?"

"Shinx-shi!" the Pokemon repeated, pointing at Ash with a grin on his face.

"Oh, is that how your saying my name?" Ash chuckled, even more so when Shinx gave a confirmation nod of his head and continued his cute toothy grin. "Well, at least I know when you are indicating me in a conversation now."

Togepi seemed a bit left out, so she stood back up and hugged her daddy. "Toge-to!" She was also giving him a name in her own language, but it sounded a little more like 'daddy' then 'Ash' to be true. And that actually made perfect sense, since he was kinda like a daddy to her.

Ash just smiled, pulling Togepi up off his lap after placing the pokedex away. "Come here, you little cutie. Daddy hasn't forgotten you," he began to bounce her up and down next before, giving a grin that Shinx seemed to copy. "You'll be able to help battle when your older, what you say?"

"Togeprii!" the little one said excited, she seemed to understand that she would have to wait. But the excitement was still very evident in her voice and tone. Ash gave a smile, as he continued to bounce her up. Her excitement seemed to raise as suddenly she waved her hands around 'metronome' style. Ash was a little nervous, he had seen the random move before. But he got lucky when all the move that came out was Sweet Kiss, as the Togepi kissed his cheek with an adorable smile.

"Well, we should get going. Long way to go until we can compete in the Indigo League."

"Toge!" "Shinx!" his two Pokemon nodded in agreement, Ash gently placed Togepi back in her spot in his bag and let Shinx walk by his feet. He wasn't one for poke balls and knew that he would never keep Togepi in one, Shinx maybe but Togepi no. She was only a baby, the confined space of a poke ball wouldn't really be fair to her. But with the two prepared, he began his walk to the next city: Viridian. Maybe he could have a battle or even meet another Pokemon in the surrounding area. He wasn't sure, but couldn't wait!

* * *

Okay, Shinx is supposed to be Ash's respective electric type. I don't want him to have Pikachu, it's a bit over-cliche even when he doesn't have the Pokemon as a starter. So, Shinx will be the electric type and he may even get Iron Tail if that's what people want. Oh and next weeks votes, on the Pokemon Ash obtained after meeting Misty.

It's gonna either be:

Nidoran (Male)

Ponyta (Could be either gender, be sure to vote this too)

Or Mankey (Male)

Make your votes and I'll sum it up for the next chapter and you'll see. And since I forgot last time, my Pokemon listings:

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Shinx (Male)


	3. Water and Fire

Okay, winner of the votes was Ponyta. So, lets get through this chapter and introduce her and Misty too.

* * *

Ash continued his walk down route 1, it was relaxing with the wind in his hair and the gently snoring of his little Togepi. Well, it was serene until something drastically changed. A loud scream, feminine in tone, shot through the route. It came from the nearby river from the sound of it, knowing the location sent Ash into a frenzy to save whoever was in danger. He arrived at the embankment to the river and carried on, following the gently blue sapphires until he reached the exact location. It was at the route's fishing spot, so it would be popular to fishers. And sure was it, there was a girl there with luscious tangerine haired girl with viridian colored eyes.

But that wasn't the interesting part, 'mostly' Ash's mind was still scanning the girl's curves and hips. But there was something in front of her, now it was known that Magikarp were common in fishing spots but it's evolution wasn't. Yet, here one was. A massive Gyarados towered over the girl, preparing to attack and potentially feed on the girl's scrawny body. Ash snarled, looking down at Shinx. He did know that the little lynx didn't have a electric move yet, but surely he would be able to handle this. "Shinx, use Leer to lower its defenses and then quickly attack with Facade!"

Shinx nodded, leaping and bounding on the field. His tail sparkled with electricity, as a red glow wrapped around the Gyarados to show it's decreased stat. A orange aura that wrapped around the lynx's body as he charged at the Gyarados, which knocked it back. Yet, it wasn't prepared to be beaten as it moved in with a bite. It's giant mouth clenched around Shinx' body as the Flash Pokemon gasped and cried in pain. "Shi-Shinx!"

"Shinx!" Ash gasped, as he stood in front of the still terrified girl that he wanted to protect. She was terrified, but also surprised by the boy's willingness to help her out. "Use Flash, blind it!" Shinx's body glowed very brightly and temporarily blinded the Gyarados, giving the lynx a chance to escape. Ash took his chances and yelled out. "Tackle it!"

Shinx quickly bolted forward once more, slamming into Gyarados' face and even stunned it with the movement. Suddenly, Shinx' tailed glowed a metallic silver and slammed into the Atrocious Pokemon. "Shinx!" the Pokemon cried, as his tail constantly slammed back and forth into water/flying dual type.

"Iron tail..." breathed Ash, with shock. "Wow, you learnt a new move. Now finish it with Facade!"

Gyarados attempted to use a Hyper Beam, it's mouth gearing up to latch the powerful move. It worked and the beam of yellow light came trembling out. Shinx barely dodged, as the beam destroyed a nearby tree. The electric type's body's aura turned yellow once again as he charged forward and finished out Gyarados. The dual type fell back into the river, giving an pained and annoyed cry.

Ash sighed in relief, getting out Shinx' poke ball upon seeing the electric type's tiredness. "Have a good rest, Shinx. Be rejuvenated for the next battle, will you?" the red light recalled the electric type, who gave a happy smile. The black haired boy then turned behind him and asked. "So, how are you, m'lady?"

The tangerine haired girl's eyes widened as her cheeks darkened, but she was somehow more relaxed then her frightened appearance from behind. "I-I'm fine..."

The ten year old chuckled, reaching out to grab the girl's hand to pull her back to her feet. "So, how you end up attracting that Gyarados to you? It didn't seem intentional, that was for sure."

"W-well...I was finishing, hoping for a rare water Pokemon or something. I don't know, I didn't intend on attracting that...beast," the girl seemed rather nervous when she said the word 'beast', it was very weird to hear the obvious nerves and fright in her voice. Was she scared of Gyarados? "I just caught a Magikarp and suddenly that Gyarados began to attack...," she then flinched, holding her arm in pain. There was a jagged bite mark, bleeding gently from those holes. It looked very painful and shocked Ash to the core.

He quickly grabbed her arm from her, looking at it closely. The bites were deep and bleeding tremendously. "This isn't good, it needs treating right away and we're still about half-an-hour off Viridian City...wait, maybe..." he began to think, getting into the bag that Togepi wasn't in. He was sure that his mom had packed a first aid kit and relief filled him when he found it. "Okay, hold still..."

He began to dab disinfectant along the injured region, which stung quite badly judging by the girl's expression. He then grabbed out one of his spare bandages and quickly wrapped it around, it wasn't perfect and would need proper doctor's attention. But it'd hold until they got there and protect the tangerine haired girl from blood lost. "There we go, is it too tight or anything?"

"No...it's fine," came the girl's soft reply, she was still confused by his willingness to help out. "Why are you helping me, you don't know me?..."

"'Cause I can't leave anyone in danger, it's not right and nobody should refuse helping out. My name is Ash Ketchum, by the way," he said with a smile, as he checked the bandage a few more times.

"Misty Waterflower...is my name," the girl said with a mild blush on her face, she seemed embarrassed that she hadn't thought of something as obvious as what he had said. "Your Shinx seemed quite powerful..." she complimented, with a cute smile. "It listened to you well and even learnt a new move from the sounds of it."

"Yeah, he's my battler at the moment. As my other Pokemon is still only a baby," when Ash saw Misty's confused face, he gently lifted Togepi out of her bag and showed the tangerine hair girl. "Here, my little baby Togepi,"

"Wow...it's so cute..." Misty whispered, trying not to wake to sleeping infant. "Where'd you get it?"

"She hatched from an egg I received from Professor Oak, was my starter Pokemon as I was late and didn't get one of the regular trio. She thinks I'm her daddy though so I couldn't leave her alone," he chuckled quietly, explaining the story of his starter. He then gently placed Togepi back in her bag, as he just smiled at his sleeping 'daughter'.

"Oh...my starter is a Staryu, which I received a little while ago. My eldest sister, Daisy, got 'her' for me and 'she' has been with me for a year or so...," the girl thought, trying to think of the exact number with no avail. Apparently, the Staryu and trainer had been together for quite some time so the trainer couldn't remember when she got the Staryu anymore.

"I see, so how old are you?" he asked, as they began to walk towards Viridian City. "Most trainers' get their starter Pokemon when they were 10 at the end of the day, so are you eleven or something?"

"Not exactly," Misty chuckled, though she didn't explain why. Her eyes rested on the bandage that encased her arm, before giggling. "I'm the same age as you, to be truthful."

Ash just looked at her with plain surprise and a quick. "Wait, what!?" Which elicited an adorable laugh from Misty, which he found to be more interesting then the fact she was his age and everything. She was just adorable, from head and toe and she had beautiful curves and everything. Yet, she was more of a tomboy beauty then a girly girl beauty if that makes sense. She had tomboyish hair, being that the beautiful tangerine was being held up into a lop-sided and messy ponytail. Her clothes were skimpy, revealing her belly bottom and most of her arms and legs.

"If your gonna stare then look at my face, not my clothes," said the girl sternly, snapping Ash's wandering eyes back to her own. She looked quite angry, though her cheeks were dyed red. "See, my eyes are up here and not down there. You boys are always so perverted...," she then shrugged and walked ahead, holding her arm in clear pain still.

"Sorry," Ash nervously replied, only to be ignored. He wasn't even certain on how to get back on the girl's good side, but then he remembered. She loved fishing, correct? So maybe she loved water types, he knew there wasn't many water types nearby but there were a few. He wasn't fully sure however, so he opened his pokedex and looked up route data for the route he was thinking of. Route 22, he planned to go there anyway to help training. But he could catch Poliwag, Magikarp was a bad idea judging by Misty's earlier reaction, Psyduck, Slowpoke and Buizel if Sinnoh music is played. His best bet was the Buizel, it was also the easier as he didn't have a rod and didn't expect Misty to lend hers out.

When they arrived in Viridian City, Misty made sure to go to the Pokemon Center to get her wound checked on and to heal her two Pokemon - both had been knocked out when she had attempted to battle Gyarados. Ash too went to the center, but only to heal Shinx so he could head out again. Misty's arm had turned out worse then it looked and required a bit of surgery to remove a Gyarados tooth from her arm - ouch! Ash decided to leave and get Buizel whilst Misty's operation was taking place as it could take awhile the doctors had said.

He arrived in route 22, taking in the fresh air. He had Shinx out and had his radio playing Sinnoh songs. He hoped to draw out a Buizel soon, but the only thing that seemed to be moving was a random Ponyta. It seemed interested in Ash and wouldn't leave him alone, often scaring potential Buizel when they appeared. Ash eventually gave in and turned to face the Fire Horse Pokemon, asking. "What is it that you want, Ponyta?"

"Taa!" it called, neighing out loudly before nuzzling one of Ash's poke balls on his hip. He realized instantly, the Ponyta wanted to be caught by him. Hmm, it could be interesting. A fire type, wasn't the best idea for the first gym but it could come in help during the grass gym later on.

"Alright!" he picked up his poke ball and was about to thrown, when he was harshly neighed out and the Ponyta pointed at Shinx. "Oh, you want me to beat you in battle first before capture. Don't you?"

"Pony-ta!" the fire type nodded, giving a smile.

"Alright, it gives us chance to pratice our Iron Tail!" He grinned, getting a nod from Shinx. The Flash Pokemon was always excited for a battle.

All the moment had awoken Togepi, who pulled herself up onto Ash's shoulder and then she tugged his ear to get his attention. "Togepi?"

"Toge-toge!"

"Oh, you wanna watch?"

"Togeprii!" the little one gave the affirmative nod.

"Alright," he pulled the fairy type into his arms as he looked down at Shinx. "Are you ready?"

"Shinx!" the Pokemon hopped forward, giving a big smile and leap of energy.

"Alright, begin with Iron Tail!"

Shinx's star tail gave a metallic glow as he charged forward at the Ponyta. Sure, the move wasn't super effective but it still made contact and did some damage. It was powerful, very. It was definitely Shinx' most powerful move besides Facade when status was taken into account. Ponyta moved forward, with a Flame Charge around its body. Ponyta's speed was much quicker now, but something happened when it hit Shinx with the attack. A burn? Flame Body, Ash's eyes widen with the realization. "Shinx, you've been burnt. Time to activate your ability!"

Shinx' body glowed, its attack raising back to normal after the attack drop. Guts had kicked in as well as the boost to Facade. "Alright, time to use Facade!"

Ponyta was faster, now attempting to stop Shinx with an interesting Double Kick. But Shinx was agile, fast on his feet and was able to just about dodge as the yellow aura swirled around his body and he slammed into Ponyta. The boost was all it took to knock Ponyta down and allow Ash to throw his poke ball, successfully capturing the Fire Horse Pokemon on the third click.

He threw the Ponyta out and quickly sprayed it with a potion to help it stand, giving a smile. "Sorry about that, Ponyta. But looks like your my Pokemon now."

"Pony-taa!" the Pokemon cried, happily running around. It didn't seem to mind the pain it had previously felt, she didn't even seem all that fazed by battling. It just seemed like she wanted to confirm that Ash was a good trainer.

"Alright, lets check you out," he got his pokedex out and quickly scanned the fire type before him. It took a while, especially since getting Ponyta to stand still took longer then it should have. But the Pokedex eventually clicked and began listing.

 **Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokemon. Ponyta is very weak at birth. It can barely stand up. This Pokemon becomes stronger by stumbling and falling to keep up with its parent. This Ponyta is female with the ability Flame Body. Her moves include Flame Charge, Double Kick, Flame Wheel, Ember, Tackle, Growl and Morning Sun.**

"Looking good, Ponyta. You'd make a great addit-," Ash tried to compliment, but Ponyta wasn't listening. In fact, she was now carrying Togepi on her back...wait, how did the infant get on her back in the first place? "Looks like your more for the caring and motherly type then battler, aren't you?"

"Pony," the fire type gave a gently nod, as she nuzzled Togepi gently. She then bent her head down to allow Togepi to wander off, which the little baby did. Togepi looked back up as the Fire Horse Pokemon neighed. "Ponyta."

"Prii! the little one squealed, as Ash picked her up.

"Come here, you little wanderer. What were you doing?"

"Toge-toge!" the little one waved her hands, trying to tell her daddy something. It was hopeless to understand, but it didn't matter to Ash as he found the actions to be just adorable. The little one was just that cute. "Togeprii!"

"Now, you little rascal. Its time for you to have your bottle and go back for nap-time," he pulled out a bottle of milk from his bag and gently placed it to Togepi's lips, which she took happily. She drank away, adorably and soon fell to sleep. She was only a baby, so sleep was very important to her at the moment. Ash placed her back in the bag and let her sleep. "Alright, you two. We need to get that Buizel," he said, staring at Ponyta and Shinx.

He turned his radio back on and waited, a Buizel soon came scurrying over. Luckily, it didn't take a battle to catch him since all it took was the promise of a kind ('ish' Ash thought) trainer to take care of him, so he could practice his battling, as well as nice food. Ash couldn't wait to present the Buizel to Misty, get her to forgive him the perverted looks he gave her earlier - unintentionally, he swore.

Ash arrived back to Viridian, finding Misty sat at a table in the Pokemon Center. Her arm was now in a sling, much to her clear annoyance. Ash winced at the sight of the sling, but walked closer with Buizel's poke ball in hand. "Hi, Misty. Um...how's your arm?"

"Can't you see for yourself," Misty sighed with evident annoyance "It's mostly fine, apparently the bite had left a tooth or something," she seemed quite drowsy, much have been the effect of the medication she was put on to relieve the pain. "Plus, it's broken..."

"Well, I got something that might make you feel better," Ash responded with a smile, getting the tangerine haired girl to look up at him with confusion. "Here," he handed her the poke ball and waited until she called the Buizel out.

Misty's drowsy eyes took a while to register the water-type but when Buizel hopped into her arms, she just fell in love and squealed as she hugged the Sea Weasel Pokemon. "Where you get this little cutie, Ash?"

"Over on route 22, I got a new Pokemon myself and thought that I could catch Buizel to cheer you up. I knew you'd be tired and in pain from that injury and I just thought it'd be nice."

"Well, thanks..." she bashfully said, hugging the Pokemon closely. She was still incredible tired, evident by her yawn and expression. "The nurse said I should stay here overnight, not to put too much stress on my arm..."

"Alright, I planned to stay anyway. Shinx still needs to master Iron Tail and I want to test out my Ponyta's moves," Ash chuckled, looking at her adorable drowsy expression. "Now you, m'lady, should be getting some sleep. It's not good for you to still be up when your healing."

"Okay..." Misty weakly whispered, she hated being treated like a weakling but she felt weak and tired so she couldn't help it at the end of the day. "Well, um. See you tomorrow..." her brain then clicked on something. "Wait, why does what I'm doing potentially effect your plan?"

Ash grinned. "I was hoping you would travel with me or something."

"Oh...I guess I could...got nothing better to do.." Misty tried to sound like she didn't care much, though there was a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. She wanted to find out more about this trainer before her.

Ash was also excited, the tomboyish beauty had said 'yes'. Admittingly with no care, but she had said 'yes' in a way. He couldn't be more excited to travel with Misty, her fiery and passionate nature just popped out and made her look stunning. It was gonna be amazing, that was for sure.

* * *

Quite a long chapter today, but I felt it was worth it. Hinted feelings, yes. But the true shipping is gonna be a bit of a wait, I'd rather develop them as friends initially and Misty has yet to show much feelings. Plus, sure Ash has physical attraction, I wouldn't call it a crush just yet. But oh well, next chapter takes us to Viridian Forest. Lets wait to see our favorite tomboy be scared, only for Ash to comfort her.

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Shinx (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)


	4. The buggy forest

Alright, just gonna go straight into it and see what'cha think.

* * *

It hadn't took long after entering Viridian Forest to learn about Misty's annoying fear of bug type Pokemon, she literally kept screaming after every Caterpie and Weedle that appeared. Ash eventually relented and brought Ponyta out, which was easier said then done. The Fire Horse Pokemon didn't like Misty's screaming and had burnt her the first time she tried to climb on, but Ash helped out and got Ponyta to relax and allow the tangerine haired girl up. He looked around, smiling at all the Pokemon that they passed by. Misty was holding his waist tightly, with faint tears of fright in her eyes. He sighed. "Have you always been scared of bug types?"

"Yes...I was attacked by a Beedrill in my toddler years...b-but, my daddy tried to protect me..." those faint tears began to roll, eventually breaking into proper sobs that shock her body and caused Ash to stop Ponyta. He gently coaxed her to continue, to let it out. "The Beedrill used Poison Jab...and poisoned him...it-it was too late when the paramedics arrived..."

"Hey, it's alright. Not all bug type Pokemon are like that, Beedrills can generally just aggressive. It's part of their nature, they hate loud noises. It's quite likely that your childish noises attracted it and it attacked out of annoyance,"

"M-maybe..." Misty frowned, leaning on the boy. She wiped her eyes and sighed, "Maybe your right...but it doesn't stop it hurting..."

"I understand that," he said with a smile small. "My father's gone too," with that, Misty looked up with surprise. Ash just chuckled. "It's been a few years as well, he was a well-known Pokemon champion and spent the first few years of my life raising me to follow in his footsteps. I was always wanting to, even after he died. He died in a accident, having gone to help some Pokemon on Mount Silver and got stranded."

He didn't seemed that affected much to Misty's surprise, but he saw her confused face and answered her unasked question. "I'm just used to it at this point, it's been years and I don't completely remember him. Sure, I miss him but I don't see the point in crying anymore," he smiled at the thoughts, gently petting Ponyta's neck as the mare began to move once more. Suddenly a movement in his bag caused him to pause and look at Togepi's bed bag. The baby Pokemon peeped out, rubbing her eyes cutely. "Good morning, sleepy head."

"Toge?" the Pokemon questioned, looking around. She seemed curious as to where she was for a few seconds, looking a little dumbfounded. But then her eyes laid on Misty, she had never seen the tangerine haired girl prior. She had been asleep when Ash introduced them, so she didn't get the chance. "Geprii?"

Misty smiled, reaching up to rub the Togepi's little spikes on her head. "Aren't you a little cutie, did your daddy and I wake you?"

"Toge toge!" the Pokemon seemed excited to meet a new person, pulling herself out of the bag. Misty jumped into action, as it wasn't safe for Togepi to be climbing out with no support. She quickly grabbed the Spike ball's egg shell and held her up, the little one didn't seemed to mind though as she excited bounced herself in Misty's hands. The girl winced a little at the movement and pressure placed on her bandaged hand, but she stayed as relaxed as possible whilst Togepi cried out repeatedly. "Toge-toge-Prii!"

Ash looked over, chuckling and not noticing Misty's small wince. "She's seems excited to meet you. Togepi," the little one looked up at her daddy with big curious eyes. "This is Misty, she's gonna be traveling with us so you can get to know her."

"To-pri?" the questioning response came, Togepi wasn't sure how to address Misty. "Toto?" she questioned, it made Ash a little nervous by the sound of the little word that jumbled together. It sounded a little like 'mama' in the syllables and he wasn't sure about letting his 'daughter' think Misty was her mom. But Togepi didn't seem to notice her daddy's distress as she repeated the phrase. "Toto! Toto!"

"Ash?" Misty asked. "Why is she repeated Toto?"

"W-well..." he nervously stuttered, unsure how to put this. "It's what she wants to call you... she calls me Toge-to...so it's not out of the realm of possibility..."

"But, Toto doesn't sound like 'Misty'?...Then again, Toge-to doesn't sound like Ash..."

"Her Toge-to means daddy from what I can gather, she thinks I'm her daddy so it's understandable..." he then rubbed a finger on the 'z' marks on his cheek, with a nervous frown. "I hate to think this, but I believe 'Toto' may mean mama..."

Misty didn't react at first, but a large blush soon admitted onto her face. She actually nearly dropped Togepi from her shock, but kept focus mostly. "Mama?!" she breathed in and out, trying to relax. "B-but I'm not her..." she froze, seeing Togepi's eyes whelm up with tears. It was as if she knew what they were talking about and didn't like what the tangerine haired girl was about to say. "...I suppose, to keep her happy...," this seemed to cheer Togepi up considerably, as she reached over to hug Misty.

Ash nodded, he'd rather not deal with a wailing baby. "I guess that works, it's not like she believes we're um...you know," he didn't want to actually say 'together' or 'couple', it wasn't like that. Admitting, he thought she looked absolutely beautiful but he also knew that it wasn't a proper crush. They didn't even know each other properly after all. Misty was still keeping secrets as to where she came from and why she was so interested in water types, or why she didn't want to battle gyms. If Ash tried to ask her about it, she'd just tell him to shut up and not to ask a girl personal questions.

They were about halfway through the forest by now, without a doubt. It wasn't a huge forest, but loads of Pokemon lived within. The rarest of which were the Pikachus, appearing at a very low chance and generally stuck to hiding. It was at this point that Ash decided to catch another Pokemon, though the way he got it wasn't expected. He continued to push Ponyta forward, looking around with curiosity.

But then...

"Shroomish!"

The loud cry ripped through the forest and jerked Ash to look around, even seeing the silhouette of a Pokemon. It was being attacked by a Beedrill, this angered Ash greatly. Beedrills were commonly bullies as they were at the top of the food chain in Viridian Forest, but it didn't make it any less annoying and anger-inducing. The raven haired boy was quick to act. "Ponyta, Flame Charge!"

Misty gasped as flames wrapped around the horse's body, but they didn't burn her as they danced about. Ponyta neighed loudly as she began to charge forward, fire curling around and around. The flames caught the Beedrill's attention, but it didn't run despite the evident weakness. So it gave the Fire Horse a chance to slam straight into the Poison Bee and stun it momentarily. It then ran off, clearly afraid and burnt.

Ash sighed with relief, hoping off his Ponyta. Misty and Togepi watched from the fiery Pokemon's back as the boy went over to the injured Shroomish, it was clearly poisoned and weak. The 10 year old grabbed out an antidote from his bag and gently sprayed the young grass type, hoping to make it feel better. Two seconds later, the Mushroom Pokemon got onto it's red - wait, what - feet. Ash took a second look at the Pokemon, it wasn't the normal green that most Shroomish were. No, it was red and more reminiscent of an actual mushroom. It definitely seemed to be a rare oddity that this Pokemon had, but Ash wasn't gonna be the one who wanted the rare Pokemon. He just wanted Pokemon that we're friendly and not so much focused on power - like his Togepi. "Alright, little one. That's you all done."

"Shroo?..." it whispered, nearly shyly. It didn't seem to want to leave that Ash had expected it would, no it stayed there and waited.

"Is there something you want?"

"Shroomish..." it continued, with that little shy tone of voice. Ash watched the Shroomish's trailing vision until their eyes both landed on the poke balls that were attached to his belt. The Shroomish edged forward and gently tapped one of the empty ones, without any question or command from Ash. It just captured itself, just like that.

"Alright then?" was Ash's response, he was confused by the sudden capture. But he picked up Shroomish's poke ball and sent the Mushroom Pokemon back out in the red light. "Well, looks like you're my Pokemon now..."

"Mish!" the Pokemon did seem excited, it's shy tone from before missing. But then it's eyes saw Misty and Togepi and it ran to hide next to Ash's feet in an adorable little manner. It only picked out once and soon squeaked, hiding once more.

"A shy one, huh?...So we have the excitable infant, the brave lynx, the kind horse and the shy mushroom. Well, at least it's diverse," Ash said. "Looks like it's scared of you though, Misty. So we'll have to introduce you two slowly," he began to get his poke dex out after saying this.

"I understand, not every Pokemon is gonna be happy with strangers at the end of the day. Though, I think that you should be glad that you have an actual type advantage before the Pewter City gym now, instead of just a super-effective move."

"What you mean by that?" Ash asked, forgetting about the scanning he would have done. He was more interested in what Misty meant by her statement.

"Well you had the plan of using Shinx's Ice Fang and Iron Tail, correct? But what if Shinx faints, it's more then feasible," the orange haired water lover commented with logic in her voice. "With Shroomish, you have a back-up plan if required. It's a grass type at the end of the day, so very much effective against Brock's Geodude and Onix, which are Rock/Ground types so quad weak to grass moves. Also to water moves, I've battled him before with Staryu and Tentacool as I should know."

"Seriously, when did you battle him?"

"Uh, about a year ago...at a gy-" she froze, before shaking her head rapidly and correcting her sentence. Still not wanting to reveal her secret to the boy, it seemed. Even though she had gotten very close. "It doesn't matter much, you should get on with checking that poke dex of yours. I'd rather not stay in the forest longing then we have to."

Ash weakly nodded, he wondered what the tomboyish beauty was gonna say prior to cutting herself off. But he gently scanned his new Pokemon, trying to push the problematic thought of his head. 'Gy-', what could that mean in reference to Brock. The poke dex then beeps in registration and began to list off.

 **Shroomish, the Mushroom Pokemon. If Shroomish senses danger, it shakes its body and scatters spores from the top of its head. This Pokemon's spores are so toxic, they make trees and weeds wilt. This particular Shroomish is male, with the ability Poison Heal. His moves are Drain Punch, Seed Bomb, Bullet Seed, Absorb, Tackle, Spun Spore, Leech Seed, Mega Drain and Toxic. Note: Trainer, the coloration on this Pokemon is incredible rare and is special for you to have obtained.**

"Sounds amazing, Shroomish. Not only are you an alternative color to normal, you have some amazing moves of your two types when you evolve. And in fact, your Toxic could come in handy for testing my Shinx's ability and getting him to control it," he reached his hand out and allowed the Shroomish to climb onto his shoulder with a grin on his face. He then grabbed Shinx's poke ball and sent the lynx-like Pokemon out. With 4 Pokemon now, he could believe he was prepared to battle against Brock. "Alright everyone, we're gonna win this.

"Shinx!" "Mish!" "Taa!" "Prii!" all four cries came from his Pokemon, with even the baby of the group joining in the unison cry. Though, Togepi's cry surprised Misty quite a bit as she hadn't been expected it to happen from the formerly rather quiet egg-like Pokemon.

But the girl calmed and chuckled. She then noticed something, bright light on the distant horizon. She needed to let Ash know, pronto. She wanted out of the bug infested place. "Ash, I think I just found the exit that will leave us to Pewter City. We should get going so it doesn't become night-time."

Ash looked, before nodding. "Good work, Misty. Alright! Shinx, Shoromish, return. I'll call on you when it's training time," the two Pokemon nodded as they were re-absorbed into their poke balls. He then climbed back onto Ponyta, smiling at Misty and Togepi. "Hi-ya!" he then said, lightly kicking Ponyta into action. He then turned back and grinned. "Looks like you can finally be relieved, Misty. We'll be out of the bug-filled forest before you can even say 'Gyarados'."

The two left the forest, but they weren't the only things to leave. A small Pikachu with an adorable heart tail had been following them from a small distance, she seemed intrigued by Misty and had just wanted to follow. Now the trainers had left the forest, she chose to leave the home she knew to keep following them. "Pika!" she whispered excitedly as she took her first step out. She'd become Misty's Pokemon if it was the last thing she'd do. "Pikachu!"

* * *

Okay, not gonna include Pikachu's capture in this chapter. It'd be a bit too much. Though, I suppose Pikachu's appearance is gonna be quite a surprise to some. Yes, I'm swapping Togepi and Pikachu around on our lovebird's teams. Why, because I think it's gonna be adorable.

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Shinx (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Shroomish (Male)(Shiny)

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Unknown

Pikachu (Female) - following the group half-silently.


	5. Practice and Surf

Alright, lets get involved with this chapter. It's mostly a transitional chapter until the Pewter City Battle.

* * *

The pair arrived at the edge of Pewter City, Ash smiled as he saw the darkly-colored city. Misty gave a nod, whilst she held the excitable Togepi. Between the two of them, Togepi was the only Pokemon outside of her poke ball and that was quite typical. "Well, Ash. Looks like you've arrived in Pewter City, what is your plan may I hear?"

"I guess, I want to train up my Pokemon a bit. Maybe have Togepi learn a few move, then we can face the gym tomorrow."

Misty smiled, gently holding Togepi close to her. Sure, the little spike ball was Ash's Pokemon but she seemed to have taken a liking to Misty too in a way that was very similar to how a baby loved its mother. "I happen to know an amazing training spot around here, it's a bit of a walk but it'll a great place. Especially to train up Shinx and Shroomish."

"Alright then, lead the way!" Ash said, grinning.

They began to do the walk down to Misty's training place, it was in the outskirts of the town. Near a hydroelectric power station, it was by a long river. Now Ash understood, with Shinx and Shroomish's type effectiveness to water, it would be great to start teaching them here. Maybe get his Shinx to learn an electric type move at last. He called out the three Pokemon in their poke balls and gently took Togepi from Misty, placing the Spike Ball next to the other Pokemon. "Alright team, we're here at Pewter City. We have a gym battle coming up and I want us to be well-prepared. The two main battlers will be Shinx and Shroomish, but I do want the other two prepared in case we have to fall back to you."

"Ash," came Misty's sweet voice, standing next to her was her trio of Pokemon. "You could train them by testing them on my Pokemon, even Ponyta could benefit from this as she could get use to battling against her weaknesses."

"Thank you," Ash responded, before turning back to his team. "Alright, who wants to go first?"

Shroomish shyly step forward, giving nervous glances back at the other Pokemon. It was actually Togepi's bright smile - despite her lack of battle capability - that convinced him to continue forward. "Shroomish shroom."

Ash grinned, checking his pokedex regarding Shroomish. "Alright, your next move that you learn should be Headbutt. So lets get practicing on that move shall we? Lets turn a Tackle into a Headbutt!"

"Mish," the Mushroom Pokemon responded, mostly ready now. He prepared to use Tackle, charging towards his opponent - which was Misty's Buizel. He then pushed his head down in attempt to go for a headbutt, it didn't work though as he couldn't keep his head down and ended up just using a Tackle.

"Don't mind, don't mind," Ash's attempts to cheer his Pokemon came, with a smile embedded into his face. "You'll get there eventually, all you need to do is practice keeping your head down."

A few more attempts came and went, eventually the Tackle changed into the Headbutt that Ash intended it to be. The Headbutt was revealed when he finally slammed into Buizel harshly, though it did angry the Pokemon and he unleashed a Water Gun at Shroomish.

"Looking good, Ash. Though, I think we should switch Pokemon before Buizel potentially uses Fury Cutter..."

"Wait, he has Fury Cutter..." Ash's reaction was grim, knowing that Fury Cutter was very effective on the grass type Shroomish. "Shroomish, return," he said, recalling the Pokemon into his ball, just as Buizel used Fury Cutter in his blinded angry.

"Alright, Buizel. Calm down," Misty said, kneeling down next to her newest Pokemon. "I'm sorry that Shroomish hurt you, we were only intending on using this time for practice. It's not a real battle and I don't want you to hurt my friend's Pokemon."

"Bui..." he seemed to nod in understanding, which gave Misty the chance to recall him.

"Have a good rest, Buizel. Alright, Ash. Who's next up?" she asked, turning her attention back to the boy in front of her. She had Staryu next to her now, showing who was up next in training.

"Shinx, obviously. I know that his next move will be Spark and I want him to begin the training to learn it, as well as master his Ice Fang and Iron Tail," the lynx cub came forward, a friece gleam in his eyes. He loved to battle, the only one on Ash's team at the moment who loved it this much. "Alright, Shinx. We'll start off with mastering Ice Fang, ready?"

"Shinx!" the little Pokemon nodded. His teeth began to coat themselves with ice, layering over and over as he stared at his opponent with a small grin on his face. He knew it wasn't a proper battle and only to help him master his moves, as well as learn Spark. But it didn't matter to him, he would still perform the best he could and hopefully impress his trainer.

"Alright, Ash. To test out Shinx, since he'll be your main battler, I want to see how well he can battle when the opponent is attacking. As opposed to Buizel earlier just taking the Tackles and Headbutt," Misty called, before yelling out. "Staryu, Bubble Beam!"

Staryu spinned around and soon shot multiple bubbles mixed with a beam of water. Meanwhile, Ash called for 'Ice Fang' and his Pokemon charged forward with his ice-covered fangs. "Shinx!" he yelled as he took into a bite into Staryu's body, just as Bubbles pop around him. But he didn't care as he continued to bite with his icy fangs. Eventually Staryu's body froze, indicating Ice Fang obtaining a freeze.

"Alright, Ash. I think Shinx's Ice Fang has been mastered considering you obtaining that freeze," Misty chuckled. "Alright, Staryu. Can you hear me? Use Scald to free yourself," Staryu didn't really attack, it just splattered scalding water onto it's cage and thawed itself out. The girl smiled, getting a potion out and gently spraying her Pokemon with it. "Good work there, you took all those Ice Fangs like a boss."

"Your Staryu has Scald?" Ash questioned with intrigue, Shinx seemed to share his expression.

"Yep..." the girl then sighed. "I suppose I might as well tell you," she got out her own pokedex and handed it to him. "Click the button...it'll read out a message," Ash did as he was told and waited for her dex to read the message out.

 **This pokedex belongs to Misty Waterflower, the substitute gym leader of Cerulean City. Pokemon obtained: 20. If broken or damage, it can't be repaired. If lost, it should be returned to Misty.**

"Substitute gym leader?!" Ash gasped, looking up at the girl with shock.

"Yeah, you see," she whispered, sitting down on a nearby bench with her Tentacool in her arms. "I was raised to take on the gym potentially when I got older, they expected me to look after the gym if anything happened to my older sisters since my parents are...gone. The reason I have 20 Pokemon considered obtained is well, I've often looked after my parents' and my sisters' Pokemon. Since my sisters are useless in battle, the job of controlling the gym was nearly always left to me. The whole reason that I was out on route 1 was to get some fresh air, I wanted to see if they could handle the gym on their own for once."

"So, the reason your Staryu has an advanced move like Scald is because of that?"

"Uh huh. In the Cerulean Gym, we are only allowed 3 Pokemon per team. And we all have our three signature Pokemon, though my third was left back at home for reasons I'll get into later. My older sister, Daisy's Pokemon are Luvdisc, Shellder and Dewgong. Lily has a pair of Goldeen and a Seaking. Violet has a Seel, Krabby and a Vaporeon. And then we come to me, my signatures are my Staryu, Tentacool and my Luvdisc."

"You have a Luvdisc, but why did you leave it behind?"

"Well...you see, my Luvdisc is called Caserin and he happens to be in love with Daisy's Luvdisc, Luverin, and so I didn't want to spilt them up. Even if I ever go back, I wouldn't bring him along with me. Besides, if I ever take back over then I'd use Buizel now," she sighed and got up, stretching out. Tentacool left her arms and seemed to float nearby. "We should continue your training, don't you want to test out Iron Tail and teach Shinx Spark?"

"Oh yeah," Ash was momentarily stunned, he wasn't sure what to say. Misty was a gym leader...well admittingly a sub, but it didn't matter. Hmm, he wanted to ask her something as he got back into position with Shinx at his ankles. "Misty, when we arrive in Cerulean City. Is it alright if I battle you instead of your sisters?"

Misty's eyes widened and left her unsure of what to say. "Uh, sure. I suppose..." a faint blush appeared on her face, he wanted to battle her for real? And not just practice? It had certainly left her surprised and uncertain. But she shook off the feelings of confusion and focused on Staryu. "Alright, Staryu. He'll be using Iron Tail this time, so just be prepared. Alright, use Water Gun. We don't want to hurt Shinx too much."

Staryu's gem glowed as suddenly a bolt of water appeared and shot from it, which Shinx jumped to dodge as his tail began to glow in a metallic gleam. "Now, Shinx. Iron Tail!" Ash yelled as Shinx slammed his star tailed down onto Staryu, knocking the star-fish like Pokemon back. "Again and again!"

Shinx gave a joyful smile, until suddenly sparks of blue electricity burst out of his body as his electricity-boosted Iron Tail slammed onto Staryu and knocked it back really harshly. "Shi?"

"An electrified Iron Tail? Wait, did you learn Spark, Shinx? Try it."

Shinx nodded, equally as confused as his trainer. His body built up his electricity currents and ran forward in a blue electrified hue. "Shinx!" he skidded to a stop with a bright smile. He had Spark now, a actual electric move. He could learn to control his electricity and be even more of use to his trainer. He gave a prideful smile as he looked back at Ash and Misty, but that smile faded when he saw something in a distance. He had to catch it, his 'lynx' instincts telling him too. Ice coated his teeth violently as he ran forward and bite the tail of whatever was spying on them, it was a heart-tailed Pikachu. "Nx?"

The Pikachu violently shook, trying to free her tail but Shinx kept his grip. He ran back over, near dragging the Pikachu in his mouth by her tail. When getting back to his trainer and Misty, he dropped the Pikachu and cried. "Shinx!"

"Good work, boy," Misty said, petting the Pokemon before turning to the Pikachu. "Now, about you. Why were you spying on us?"

"Pika-Pikachu-Pika!" the Pokemon tried to explain her intentions, but with little avail due to language differences. She looked around before coming up with a plan, she dug her tail into the ground. She drew an rough image on Misty and a poke ball capturing her (The Pikachu). "Pika!" she waved her hands, trying to indicate what she wished.

"I think she wants you to catch her, Misty," Ash worked out, looking at the crude drawings. He got a happy smile and clap from the Pikachu.

"But...as the cerulean gym leader sub..." his friend said with concern in a voice. "Is it right for me to have an electric type instead of a water type?"

The Pikachu blinked, seemingly in thought. Before she smiled, leaping into the air. She ran over to the nearby river and landed on top with her tail underneath her little paws. She began to surf down the river, a large amount of water splashing over the edges and onto Togepi. The little Spike Ball only giggled though as she jumped around. She seemed excited by the new Pokemon. "Prii!"

Ash's eyes widened by he saw that Togepi was trying to follow the surfing Pikachu into the water, he darted over and picked up the little rascal before she splashed into the river. "Alright, you little screwball. Stay here until the Pikachu gets out."

Soon after Ash picked the little egg up, Pikachu came back to the solid ground and grinned. Misty's eyes had widened when the Pokemon started using Surf, but she made no effort to hide her excitement. She ran over to the little Pikachu and hugged her. "Alright, alright. I'll catch you. With Surf, I can more then be excused for taking in a Pokemon that's not of my caliber."

"Pika!" the Pokemon squealed, happily as she was absorbed into the poke ball. Misty made no attempt to recall her though, sighing with my happiness.

"My fourth Pokemon, looks like we could have a four-v-four one day, Ash Ketchum. Though, I wouldn't make you battle Togepi. She's too young for that," the girl seemed gleeful, as she spun around with her new filled poke ball.

"So, Mist. What do you plan to do when we get to Cerulean City?"

"Well," the girl sighed as she let Pikachu back out. The Pokemon climbed onto her shoulder as Misty continued. "I suppose I'll have to talk to my sisters about owning Pikachu; with Surf as one of her moves, she may be allowed to battle in the Cerulean Gym. There's no rule that states you have to have the specific type as long as they have a move pertaining to the type."

"I see," Ash grinned. "Well, you have a unique Pikachu there. You should be happy, isn't that right, Togepi?"

"Toge-toge!" the Pokemon nodded, though she didn't understand what her daddy said. She just smiled and suddenly used metronome to Bounce out of Ash's arms to go over to the Pikachu. "Togeprii!"

Ash sighed, he did love the little troublemaker. And he was truly happy for Misty, she had another Pokemon with a rather unique move at that. He grinned, tomorrow he would get his gym badge and continue through the journey. He absolutely couldn't wait.

* * *

Alright, sorry for the wait on this chapter. I just kept getting paused and couldn't continue it. But oh well, next chapter is our battle and hopefully that'll be up in the next few days.

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Shinx (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Shroomish (Male)(Shiny)

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

 _Cerulean gym_

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)


	6. Electric versus Rock

Okay, I know I said 'few days'. But I've been rather ill, hope you understand that. Still a little ill today, but mostly I feel better then I did and I wanna get back to writing since this is a rather important chapter.

* * *

Ash was a bit nervous as he stepped towards the Pewter Gym's doors. He had Misty behind him, the girl had Togepi in her arm and her Pikachu on her shoulder. She looked concerned by his nervous behavior. Holding his shoulder with her free hand, she began to speak in a concern-filled voice. "Ash, are you completely certain that your ready? You seem really nervous and I want to see you win this."

Ash smiled, placing her own hand on Misty's and saying in a more relaxed voice then what his face had formerly said. He was very glad that she was worried for him and wanted to see him win. "I'm be fine, me and Shinx can handle it. Just be sure to keep an eye on the little rascal."

Misty smiled, holding Togepi even closer then before. "You know I will."

The boy nodded, before pushing open the door and walking in. Misty followed after, still a little concerned for the boy. It was his first gym battle at the end of the day, it was very different to their practices. She noticed Brock over at the other side of the gym and nodded her head when her eyes met the older boy's. She then spotted a spiraling staircase that led up to a balcony. She decided to walk from up there, it would be the perfect view of the battle. As she made her way up those steps, Ash walked to the edge of the rocky battlefield.

Brock stood up and said in a calm voice. "So your my new challenger, may I ask do you have any badges yet?"

"Nope, this is my first gym," Ash said, mild confidence in his voice. He held Shinx's poke ball in his hand before throwing the Pokemon onto the rocky field. Shinx acted much more confident then his trainer, standing firm and proud. He so wanted to help his 'master' win the badge. "And I'll be battling with my Shinx here."

"Now, I hate to be cruel to you, but your using an electric type. Your well-aware that my two Pokemon are part ground-type correct?"

"I hate to be well-aware of that fact," Ash grinned, he was building his confidence up. "I read it on my pokedex, your Geodude and Onix are rock/ground types. But they don't actually have any ground type moves."

Brock chuckled. "Yah, I was thinking of changing that fact. But I'd rather not make my gym battle too hard, since I'm listed as the first gym leader in the roster. Well, shall we begin?" he said, calling upon his Geodude. The Rock Pokemon floated proudly next to its trainer, giving the vibe that it was well-trained and prepared. But Shinx and Ash weren't about to back down. "Alright, only 2 Pokemon are allowed in this battle. I want to see your skills more then your Pokemon," the brown haired rock gym leader spoke, informing Ash and his referee of the match decision.

Misty, watching from above, smiled. She soon shouted out. "Ash, do your best!" Ash's little Togepi joined in with the shouting and cheering from Misty's lap, but Pikachu didn't join in. In fact, she seemed near jealous of the attention that Ash was receiving as she sat on the balcony's barrier. What was so special about this boy anyway?

"Alright, Shinx. Lets start with Iron Tail!" Ash yelled, head first into battle. Misty and Togepi's cheers were giving him more then enough courage as he watched his Pokemon dive forward. Shinx's tail began shiny like a piece of metal and also processed the understandable strength as he did a back-flip so his tail would smack down on the Geodude with all the force he could muster. It wasn't enough to knock Geodude out, but it did sustainable damage as cracks appeared along the rocky Pokemon.

"Geodude, don't let to get away to too much. Use Defense Curl!" Geodude began to spin around in a ball-like motion, a red glow then being achieved to boost his high defenses.

"Shinx, prevent it from continuing. Use Flash!" Shinx's well-brushed fur began to glow, shooting light from it that blinded everyone in the enclosed space. But it didn't prevent Ash from continuing. "Ice Fang!" Shinx nodded, he could see well with his enhanced vision. So it was more then easy from him to just sharpen his teeth with ice and charge forward. He arrived at Geodude and harshly bite into the rocky outer-layer of the Pokemon. The ice from his teeth seemed to freeze the Geodude's hard body, making it cold and ice-like.

Brock gasped in horror, his Pokemon couldn't even move. Pieces of icy rock begin to fall off, as Shinx leaped back. "Geodude, are you able to move?"

"G-eo..." the Pokemon attempted to speak, before nodding his head and moving his iced arms around to prove it. He wouldn't let some ice stop him from fulfilling his trainer's wishes at the end of the day, and he didn't want to lose without much of a fight to begin with.

"Alright, use Defense Curl. Spin to remove that ice, warm your body temperature!" the Pokemon agreed with the plan, spinning around as ice chunks began to thaw out from the increasing heat.

"Prevent that, Shinx!" Ash yelled, calling to his Pokemon. He couldn't let Geodude boost up on any more defense, so he came up with a plan as quickly as he could muster. "Finish it with Iron Tail!"

Shinx nodded, his tail flashing to the metallic glow and slamming into the 'curling' Pokemon before it stop its defense boost. That was enough to knock it out at last, it seemed. The Flash Pokemon panted a little, before giving a small grin. But then something happened, apparently the battle had given him enough experience in battling to...well. He began to glow and shift. Morphing and enlarging into a different Pokemon, evolving in a better term. Black fur formed around his face and he began even more fierce then before. As the light faded, he yelled out. "Luxio!"

"Sh-no, Luxio. You evolved!" Ash smiled, running over to the Pokemon and hugging him around the neck. The Pokemon gave a satisfied smile and cry of his name, as Ash stood back up and ruffled the new mane. "Alright, we should be able to win this without resorting to Shroomish."

Brock was indeed surprised by the evolution that occurred before him, but he wasn't gonna just let Ash and Luxio win without much of a battle. At the end of the day, his Onix was way more powerful then his Geodude. He recalled the Rock Pokemon, and began to speak. "Well, we should continue our battle," he then grabbed his other poke ball and threw out the Onix. "Use Toxic, weaken it!"

Onix roared and soon spat purple liquid at the Luxio, who didn't even attempt to dodge it. Ash had told him previously to not dodge the Toxic, so that they could have the Guts boost. It was painful as the toxic invaded his body, but he resisted it and felt his energy boost from his ability. Ash nodded, noticing Luxio stand completely up and firm despite the blush of poison on him. "Use Ice Fang, slow it down!"

"Onix, use Bind. Prevent it from using that move!" Brock yelled as soon as Ash finished speaking, Luxio lunged forward and was about to bite down into the Rock Snake's rocky body when he was suddenly being squeezed tightly by the Pokemon.

"Lu-luxio..." came Luxio's weak cry as he attempted to free himself from Onix's tight bind, the poison was starting to take his negative effect and it wouldn't be long before he collapsed at this rate. Ash was just as nervous as his Pokemon, looking for a solution.

"Luxio!" he yelled when the idea came to him. "Use Flash, quickly!"

Luxio nodded, his fur sparked brightly which gave him the chance to free himself and finally succeeded in his Ice Fang. "Lux!" he yelled, as his icy fangs dug deep into the Onix's body, freezing a lot of his body and effectively slowing it down. Luxio did a back flip to arrive back near Ash with a small pant.

"Your doing good, Luxio. I'll make sure to heal your poison when we're done!" Ash said with a smile, he even had an antidote in his hand in preparation. "Lets finish off the Onix, shall we?"

"Lux..." the Pokemon nodded, he was more then fine with battling in his state. He was a proud Pokemon and wouldn't let some poison effect that. He stood firm and watched the Onix with a grin, he would win this for Ash.

Brock's vision was coming back after the Flash, he looked to see that Luxio was free and prepared to battle. He wouldn't allow this and yelled out to his Pokemon in a fast manner that prevented Ash from calling a move. "Onix, Rock Tomb!"

Onix roared, breaking pieces of rock off the field and encasing Luxio within their hard walls. It was very possible to hear Luxio's pained and weakened cries, which left Ash rather distressed. "Luxio, use Iron Tail!"

The rocky tomb was broken by Luxio's metallic tail, but the gleam of the star didn't go away. No, he instead did another back flip and slammed that same tail onto Onix's forehead and with the damage already done, the super effective move and generally the guts boost, it was enough to knock Onix out. Luxio then collapsed, not fainted, to the ground when he landed. Poison was taking its effect, but Ash was more then happy that Luxio had helped him win. "Alright, buddy. Lets heal you back up," he gently sprayed the antidote onto his loyal Pokemon.

"Luxio," the Spark Pokemon stood up, he felt much better and grinned at his fainted opponent.

Brock was quite shocked, but he nodded his head. He recalled Onix and walked over to Ash, across the rocky field. "Well, trainer. Looks like you have won this battle, I was struggling to keep him with your Luxio the whole time. Oh and congratulations on its evolution. Now, here..." he gently dropped the gym badge into Ash's gloved hand. "That's the boulder badge, prove that you have beaten the Pewter City gym."

"Thank you, Brock," Ash smiled, holding the octagon shaped badge in the light. He was more then proud with himself and Luxio, plus it seemed like his Pokemon agreed with him.

"Ash, you won!" a voice near snapped him from his voice, though it was actually the hug from behind that did it. He looked over his shoulder to see Misty hugging him with a bright smile on her beautiful face. "Me and Togepi were cheering you on so much, but I bet you barely heard us in the heat of that battle."

The boy only smiled, taking Togepi from Misty's arms. "Thanks for your support, Mist," Misty blushed a little at the nickname, she hadn't expected it. And when Ash saw her blush, he realized that he probably shouldn't have said his nickname for her either. But Misty never uttered a complaint, so he decided to refrain from mentioning it. "Thanks for looking after Togepi for me, regardless."

"You know that I'm more then willing to keep an eye on her, she's too cute to be left alone and placed in a battle at the moment," the tangerine haired girl said, gently petting Luxio. "Besides; when you have a Pokemon as powerful as this, do you really need to use Togepi in battle?"

Brock coughed into his hand, attracting the attention of the pair. They had totally forgotten about him in their chat. "Well, besides your little um chat, I was gonna ask where you plan to go next?"

"We're planning on going to Cerulean city, Misty wants to see her Pokemon and hometown," Ash smiled, gently petting his Togepi's spiky head. "Plus, I want to battle the gym there!"

"Wait...so I was correct," Brock said, looking at Misty with a small smile. "So you are the substitute gym leader of the Cerulean gym?"

Misty frowned a bit, before nodding her head. She stood back off and shock the dirt off her clothes, as her Pikachu climbed up onto her shoulder. "Yeah, I help out there more then my sisters anyway..."

"I see, well good luck with your battle, you pair," the gym leader responded, with a smile on his face. "Now, I believe you two should be going. Even though you gave an antidote to your Luxio, Ash, I believe you still should get him healed at a Pokemon center."

The boy nodded, recalling Luxio to his ball. "Lets get you healed him, Luxio. Well, see you, Brock," he spoke softly, before running over to the door. Togepi gave an adorable squeal of delight from the movement. Misty just shrugged and chuckled at his behavior, before telling him to wait for her. The pair left the gym and ran back towards the city, with Brock looking at them with a grin on his face.

"Well, Ash Ketchum, looks like you got your first badge now. I can't wait to arrive in Cerulean to battle you," Misty whispered, keeping her voice low so the boy didn't hear her. She was smiling happily, though her Pikachu didn't give a smile in agreement. Nah, the Pokemon seemed even less impressed then she had prior. "Well, Pikachu. Can't you wait to battle them?"

"Pika!" she tried to be happy for her trainer, but all her thoughts were ' _Why would I want to battle them, Misty...well, I suppose it gives me a chance to show that Luxio who the superior electric type is._ '

Ash took no notice to Misty's chat with her Pikachu, he was more interested in getting to the Pokemon Center to heal Luxio up. They arrived at the center and quickly healed their Pokemon. Yet, by the time they were done, it was night time and to late to be heading over to Mt Moon to go to Cerulean City. So, they rented a room and bedded down in the Pokemon Center.

Misty laid in her bed, watching Ash talk with Togepi and Luxio on his bed. "We'll be battling Misty next and I want all 4 of you to be prepared regardless of battling capabity. And that includes Togepi, she's young but she'll be battling one day so she needs to be prepared."

"Lux!" "Toge!" the two Pokemon nodded, looking at the other two Poke balls that were full. It was too dangerous to send Ponyta out and Shroomish probably would have hid due to the enclosed space that they were in.

"Ash..." Misty's sweet voice called out in the dark. "You should get some sleep, it's getting late and I'm pretty certain you want to leave early. It's not an easy trek through Mt Moon and it could take all day to do.."

"I suppose your correct, alright I will," he recalled Luxio and laid down, hugging Togepi gently. "Night, Misty."

"Night..." Misty gently called, before turning over and falling to sleep. Ash could hear the gentle snoring that emitted from the sleeping girl, he gave a soft smile. Getting out of bed, leaving his sleeping egg-like Pokemon under the blanket. He walked over to Misty and nodded his head, she looked so peaceful and adorable in her sleep. He couldn't stop himself before he gently placed his lips on hers, luckily she didn't even stir from the touch. Ash gave a soft smile, glad she didn't wake up. It would be hard to explain the kiss.

He gently moved back to bed, smiling at the sleeping girl. "Again...night, Misty..." he said, before properly falling to sleep with Togepi in his arms.

* * *

Alright, hope you liked. No, Brock won't be joining in on this journey. It's not because I hate him, cause I don't. But I feel like his antics would just drag in a story that's about the romance between Ash and Misty, besides I typically forgot about him in the process of making Ash smarter...

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Luxio (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Shroomish (Male)(Shiny)

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

 _Cerulean gym_

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)


	7. Deaf Cave

I'm absolutely sorry about this, again. But here we go, lets try and re-write this chapter.

* * *

The two friends stepped into the expanding caverns of Mt Moon, Misty was standing at the entrance whilst Ash gasped in awe. At the girl's feet was Togepi, the little Spike Ball squealing in delight despite the darkness. Now, the reason Misty was holding back was...well, she felt weird. Or to be on point, her lips felt like they had been kissed...but why would anyone kiss a tomboy like her? Especially without her knowing, the only person who knew where she had been sleeping was the boy before her. But why?...No, she had to be wrong. Her thoughts had left a mild blush on her cheeks that she tried to hide as she spoke. "S-so, Ash are you planning on catching any Pokemon within this place?"

"Well, not fully sure. What I plan to do is help Shroomish up a bit..." he walked further into the cave before sending the grass type out, but it didn't take long for the obvious. Screams pierced through the cavern, alerting many Pokemon. Zubat flew at the group, though one stayed on its perch with curiousity seemingly to burst off its tiny body. "Damn it, Zubat! Luxio," he yelled as he called the Pokemon out. "Spark, go!"

A quick burst of blue electricity was all it took to knock down the surrounding bats, it was then that the one that stayed behind flew over. "Zuzu?" it asked, with intrigue and interest. For whatever reason, this Zubat had bright orange eyes that stood out among its fellow Bat Pokemon. Yet, there was something else. When Ash asked what it was doing, there was no squeak of an answer. Nothing, not even the turn of the head. Was this Zubat, deaf?

"Hello?" he asked again, still getting no response. But he reached over to tap the little one's gigantic ears. Now, it turned and looked at him straight with those gorgeous orange eyes. "Well, aren't you a little cutie? Zubat look too weird normally, but these eyes look amazing. So, what do you say, Zuzu. Want to come along with me on my journey?" the nickname just came out of nowhere, but it seemed to just fit the little one. Tiny, with big floppy ears and stunning citrus eyes that just popped among the purple of her body.

The Zubat had been watching his mouth movements, seemingly understanding despite the lack of the ability to hear. It was always weird, unable to hear a thing that her fellow Pokemon would say. Left out, forgotten by everyone. Including her own family, Zuzu felt more at peace with this trainer and she did want to go along with him. If this trainer, this human, really wanted her then why would she say 'no'. Everyone else had left her, she only wanted a friend. "Zu-bat!" She screeched, happy as could be.

There was the obvious answer that Ash knew, he gently got out his poke ball - this one being a luxury ball - and gently tapped it onto the Zubat. The reason he used a luxury ball was due to the friendship required to evolve Golbat into Crobat, he was thinking ahead. Light absorbed Zuzu into the luxury ball, the last sighting of her face was of pure happiness. She had a friend! 1...2...3, the ball shook and then clicked as the light turned off. A successful capture. "Alright, got a Zubat...admitting a deaf one, but its a cute one so...uh, I don't know."

Misty blinked, it sounded weird. "Deaf...how do you plan to use it in battle?" Her voice was filled with concern, as she knew that her friend was all for battling and having a deaf member on his team could be problematic.

"I have a plan," was the simple reply, as the boy throw the luxury ball open to release Zuzu from within. The deaf Zubat screeched happily, as Ash pulled out his pokedex to quickly scan her. He wanted to say 'hold still', but that would be pointless. He gently reached up, she wasn't too far, and tapped her. That stopped her and allowed the dex to pick her up.

 **Zubat, the Bat Pokemon. It sleeps in caves during the day. It has no eyes, so to check its surroundings while flying, it emits ultrasonic waves. This particular Zubat is female, with the ability Inner Focus. She knows the moves Absorb, Supersonic, Astonish, Bite, Wing Attack, Confuse Ray, Brave Bird, Quick Attack and Steel Wing.**

"Well...the 'no eyes' dex entry doesn't apply to this one, but it's clear that she's not natural. Traded her ability to hear for an ability to see, but that could be a good thing. She may have the ability to read and will be helpful in finding things," Ash said, trying to see the best of the situation. "But, having Brave Bird is amazing. Zuzu, your moves are amazing presently!"

Of course, the Bat Pokemon couldn't hear him yet she knew he was praising her. It was obvious, since he had just heard her moves through the pokedex. "Bat, zubat!" she screeched, happily and adorably.

Suddenly a squeal interrupted the cute and happy scene. It was Misty, she had a Paras inches away from her ankles and it had left her screaming due to the bug type being so close. Togepi popped her head back into the egg in fear of her mommy's yelling, and it sent Shroomish into a frenzy of running. Luxio tried to stop the Shroomish with his tail, very unsuccessful. The Shroomish ran into the dark caves, leaving the bewildered group watching him. "Alright, that happened..." Ash groaned, looking at the still screaming and huddled Misty. "CALM THE HELL DOWN!" He screamed.

Misty blinked, nodding. Luxio used Ice Fang on the Paras, allowing the tangerine haired girl to fully calm down. Taking a deep breathe, she soon spoke out with concern evident in her voice. "So...what do we do to get Shroomish back?"

"Well, leave that to me," he tapped his Zubat, getting the poison/flying types attention. He then wrote something on a piece of paper that he had hanging from his bag, it was ripped and crumbly but worked. Luckily for him, Zuzu was able to read and nodded her head. Sonic waves burst from her mouth, before reflecting off the walls and objects. It didn't take her long to pinpoint an object the size of a Shroomish, using the sight of the echos to determine the location. She screeched at Ash before flapping her wings, zooming off into the distance. Nodding, Ash yelled out. "Follow her!"

Zooming forward, Ash, Misty and Luxio ran after Zubat. Togepi popped out of her egg shell, whimpering at the lack of her mommy and daddy. She then saw Zubat's sonic waves and ran forward, tearing up and wailing. Ash and Misty didn't hear this though, due to their speed and concentration of looking for Shroomish. Luckily, the Mushroom Pokemon was too far. He was huddled up, holding his mushroom head in fear. "Hey, Shroomish..." Ash whispered, kneeling down next to the grass type and saying. "It's alright, she's not screaming anymore."

"Shroom?..." whispered the Pokemon, before he nodded. His red spots danced among with cream as he bounced up, with a smile. "Shroomish!"

"Good boy, lets return you to your poke ball. It's probably not the best for you to stay out if your so scared of a certain someone as more Paras may cause Misty to scream again," he quickly returned the Pokemon into the poke ball, with no complaint from said Pokemon. "Well, looks like that's sorted," he said as Zuzu landed on his arm in a calm way, she looked a little like a bird like that. He turned back to Misty, speaking calmly. "We should get out of the cave, I'd rather not hear you scream again due to a random Paras..."

Suddenly, Togepi's loud and sorrow-filled wailing caught up their ears and they turned back to see the crying Pokemon coming their way. She stumbled and nearly tripped, only to cause a much louder wail to leave her lips. Misty gasped in shock, running over to the Pokemon and picking her up. Hurling the young Spike Ball Pokemon into her arms, she gently began to pet the little spikes on the Pokemon's head in attempt to comfort it. "Shh, shh. I'm sorry that we left you, we were worried about Shroomish."

"Toge..." the infant whimpered, before seeing that it was her mommy holding her. She sobbed and hugged Misty's t-shirt, with a small sob-filled smile. The boy walked over and took his Pokemon off the tangerine haired girl. "Togeprii!" the little one squealed, happy that her daddy was there too.

"There. Your good, sweetie," the boy smiled, bouncing the Pokemon up and down. Misty smiled as well, happy that the infant wasn't wailing anymore. Suddenly, Togepi hopped out of Ash's arms. Somehow, she landed on her feet - potential evidence for her evolution or something? - and ran over to a light in the distance. Ash quickly realized it as the exit. "Hey, Mist. She found the exit to the cave, looks like our baby is smart!"

Misty blushed at the 'our', but nodded. "Yeah, we should get going..." she turned back and saw some Paras, eyes shrinking in fear at the mere sight. The raven haired boy seemed to notice, and they soon left the massive and spacious caves. Light burst from the horizon when they made their first steps into route 4, Togepi stood in front of them with a delightful squeal. The two gave a happy smile to one another, they were within short distance of Cerulean City now. They could be there long before sunset. Ash went to pick up Togepi and nodded, he couldn't wait to get to training for his battle against Misty.

* * *

And again (You sick yet), I'm absolutely sorry. Hope you like the rewritten version of this chapter. I know it's short, but I don't know how to pad this one out without my initial plan...:/

Oh and here's the link again (This stupid link caused this glitch...)(Be sure to replace the dashes with dots): catcatpuss66-deviantart-com/art/Ash-s-Kanto-team-First-stages-Ash-and-Togepi-708863590

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Luxio (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Shroomish (Male)(Shiny)

Zubat (Nickname: Zuzu)(Female)*Deaf*

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

 _Cerulean gym_

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)


	8. Courage Against the Dark

The pair had arrived in Cerulean City shortly upon leaving Mt Moon, it was a city with a blue drop of color to it. Very fitting for the water gym that repesented it, Misty looked happy and sad at the same time. She hadn't expected to return so soon after leaving, but it wasn't that she hated her beloved home. Nah, she just wanted to stay away from her annoying sisters. The sun was still up above the horizon, dancing amongst the red and orange hue of colors, but it was too late to set up a actual Pokemon battle. Fishing, she wanted to do that to clear her head before her sisters invaded it again. "Ash, you want to battle me correct?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Hmm, our battle is tomorrow, correct?" he asked, getting the affirmative from the tangerine haired girl. "Well, I need to work out how to train a certain bat Pokemon despite her lack of hearing. So, I want to call Professor Oak and ask his opinion on it. Plus, gotta train Shinx up a bit."

"Well, in that case, would it be alright if I borrowed Shroomish. I want to do some battle training myself and placing them against a grass type would be perfect, plus it'll help Shroomish's training and may even get him used to me."

Ash considered this, she did have a quite a few bit points that he couldn't ignore. And he knew that the girl would never intentionally hurt his Pokemon. Holding the Pokeball in his head, he spoke in a half-assured voice. "Just promise me that he'll be in one piece when you return."

"Okay!" she said, taking the ball into her hand. "I'm planning on training in Route 24, it's just above Cerulean City and is generally considered to be a water route since you got Nugget Bridge running over the river. It's quite relaxing up there, plus I may be able to catch another Pokemon. Heard you can catch things like Slowpoke and Horsea there. It'd be nice to have another water type."

"Well, I think we're gonna stay other here in route 4. It's a nice place and we can make use of training in Mt Moon should we require it. So, you run along ahead. I'll catch up with you after the sun sets."

Misty nodded and began to run down the dirt path to Cerulean. She didn't stay in the city for long before darting over to the elongated trainer-filled bridge known as Nugget Bridge. Normally there was a challenge here, where a newcomer trainer would battle 5 trainers consecutively to win the elusive golden nugget, hence the name of the bridge. But the trainers knew of Misty being the gym leader - regardless of only being a substitute - and didn't even think to ask for the battle as it was out of their league. She did a u-turn at the end of the bridge and dive into the water for a brief moment, she loved to swim and felt at ease in the watery surroundings that adorn Cerulean City and Route 24. Pulling herself out of the water, she cared nothing about her dripping clothes. Nah, she just quickly sent out Shroomish and the instant scream of the Mushroom Pokemon disrupted the serenity of the route.

"Calm down, calm down, Shroomish. I'm not gonna hurt you..." Misty tried to calm it down, with very little success. "Hey, I'm sorry for yelling at you. I never intended to scare you, I don't like to harm Pokemon. I love them," she sent out her Pikachu and gently scratched the electric type's 'rabbit' ears, earning a adorable 'chaa' of delight from the Pokemon. Shroomish looked up with surprise, giving the water trainer the chance to say something else. "See, Pikachu loves to do be scratched behind the ear. Where do you like to be tickled?"

"Shroom..." came the gentle whimpered response, as Misty knelt down and gently petted the Mushroom Pokemon's head. It caused him to flinch, but he didn't begin screaming like he had before. The girl's interactions with her Pikachu had intrigued him to the point where he was more likely to trust her. But then a thought came to his head as he looked around frantically. "Shroomish shroom!"

"Oh, are you wondering where your trainer is? Ash is looking after his other Pokemon, he needed to work out how to handle Zuzu's deafness and he wouldn't have had time to pay attention to you. So, I asked if he'd be alright if I would help you train alongside my water types. It'd be a good experience as Ash wants to use you in his battle against me anyway. You need strategy, a trainer and Pokemon with a plan generally win!"

"Shroom," the Pokemon seemed to understand what she was saying, moving a little closer to Misty. Gently, she smiled - it seemed like she was getting his trust slowly but surely.

"Alright, lets begin, shall we?" she said, before letting Pikachu climb off her shoulder. The Pokemon dived towards the water and began to surf on top of her tail, she wanted to use the water advantage. "Pikachu, wait whilst I check your moves."

"Pika!" she nodded in understanding, waiting for the Pokedex to click and register the information for Misty to use. She was patiently looking at Shroomish, pride clearly pouring off her yellow body. She knew it was only a practice, but she felt powerful and able to beat grass types.

 **Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon. It's in its nature to store electricity. It feels stressed now and then if it's unable to fully discharge the electricity. This Pikachu is female with the ability Lightning Rod. She knows the moves Surf, Thunder Shock, Tail Whip, Growl, Play Nice, Quick Attack, Electro Ball, Thunder Wave, Fake Out, Disarming Voice and Volt Tackle.**

"Quite a decent selection, alright. Pikachu, Disarming Voice. Shroomish, Seed Bomb!" As Pikachu charged up her gorgeous voice, Shroomish summoned a large green seed and shot it into the air with the quick bounce. Large sound waves rippled through the water and hit Shroomish at the same time the seed hit Pikachu and exploded in a large blast that splashed water onto the land, effectively soaking Misty even more. "Alright, Surf! Shroomish, Toxic!"

Pikachu Surfed faster, splashing water towards Shroomish with a quick twist of her tail into the water as she jumped up. Shroomish's body began to excrete toxic, that splattered everywhere and soon hit Pikachu, poisoning the Pokemon severely. But that wasn't only what it hit...no...Misty was caught in the crossfire and soon took the effects of the poison. She saw the state that her Pikachu was in though, seeing her fall off her tail and into the water. Lunging forward, the girl dived into the water, without a care of the poison pulsing through her vines, and obtained her Pokemon. She swam back to the surface, which was a struggle as her lungs began to burn. But she quickly recalled the poisoned Pikachu and fell to the ground.

"Shroomish! Shroom!" yelled Ash's grass type, looking at the state of the girl. It was nearing sunset now, everyone had left Nugget Bridge and hadn't even noticed the girl be poisoned. No one could help them. And loud howls filled the darkening sky, they were in deep trouble. Turning, the young grass type spotted a bunch of Houndour progressing near them. A human was down, poisoned by a Pokemon, and they wanted to eat. "Shroom..."

Suddenly a louder growl came and a Houndoom pushed its way between the Houndour, snarling at Shroomish and Misty. The girl was barely awake, but she could hear the snarls and was panicky by her face, whispering the one name that came to her the most: Ash. "Ash...please..." she whispered, her voice drained and weakened from the poison effects. She didn't have an antidote on her, no help could be given there. The Mushroom Pokemon was even more panicky, it was in between the river and a pack of Houndour with their leader Houndoom.

Fire burst from the Pokemon's lips, they were preparing to use Fire Fang. Shroomish shakily looked between Misty and the Houndour, trying to remember what Misty had said. 'A plan generally wins'. Very good advice, he had Drain Punch right? That could work, fighting moves were super effective to the dark/fire type that Houndour was. Punching forward, he slammed his small fist, which he kept hidden most of the time, into the closest Houndour. He had to be brave, his trainer wanted brave Pokemon, didn't he? "Shroomish!" He yelled, he would protect Misty with his life. He remembered his ability, Poison Heal, and quickly poisoned himself with his own Toxic attack. Energy pulsed through him, he would win this!

His fist glowed green and slammed repeatedly into each Houndour, it took 2 to 3 hits to knock out each one. But with his health regenerating faster then their Fire Fangs did damage, he would be fine. Right? No, clearly not when the Houndoom stepped in. His power was much harshly, his Fire Fang leaving damage that wasn't able to be replished as quickly. He needed a new plan to beat the evolved Pokemon. Evolved?

"Shroom?..." thought the Pokemon, looking at Misty. "Shroomish!" he yelled, before tapping into an energy that he had locked away. His body felt lighter with every move, every punch, every Headbutt. His body was growing much bigger, the mushroom shrinking on his head. His fists grew more claw-like and evident then they had prior. A long tail burst from his behind, swishing and swaying as power built up. His fist glowed, not green but white, and slammed into the Houndoom. It was a new move, Mach Punch, and did even more damage now that his typing was grass/fighting. "Bre-Breloom!" He yelled, telling the Houndour and Houndoom to leave him and Misty alone.

Ash arrived alongside Zuzu, just after Shroomish had evolved into Breloom, and saw the power of the grass/fighting dual type. "You evolved?" gasping breathes left his thought, but then he saw the state of Misty. He snarled, the Houndoom was still there. He had something in his hand that he clicked, which caused the Bat Pokemon to look at the boy with intrigue after a shock formed in her ear from a small device. He held a flash card that spoke a simple command: Brave Bird. Zuzu nodded, understanding immediately. She glowed blue, before charging at the Houndoom with power and force.

Whilst this happened, Ash ran over to Misty. The girl's face was pale, greenish from the toxic in her body. It was heartbreaking to see her like that. The Houndoom ran off, leading Zuzu and Breloom to hop/fly over to them. Holding onto her softly, Ash wasn't sure what to do besides try to move her. But she screamed in agony when he attempted too. Suddenly, light formed in Breloom's hands as he gently wrapped his tail onto the girl. "Refresh?..." Ash whispered, shocked by the move. Brelooms don't typically learn and use the move, but it didn't matter.

Misty's facial features softened, she was still unconcious. But she looked relaxed, less ill then prior. Ash smiled, able to pick her up now. "Lets get her back to the Pokemon Center, she needs to rest up after what happened. Breloom, did those Houndour and Houndoom hurt her?" when he got the soft shake from the dual type beside him, he sighed with relief and held Misty close to him. "Rest up, my Mermaid..."

* * *

Those who seen my note will know that I lost the previous chapter, I had already began writing this one and thus lost the last one's data in the process. I had been trying to fix the link to my picture. Again, I'm sorry...

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Luxio (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Breloom (Male)(Shiny)

Zubat (Nickname: Zuzu)(Female)*Deaf*

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

 _Cerulean gym_

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)


	9. Battle above the water

As the sun rose above the distant horizon, Misty awoke and stretched out. She felt rejuvenated as she had been asleep since the poisoning incident the day prior so she could recover. Well...not exactly the whole time. She had awoke late into the light with a bit of a fever, which she discover Ash was treating. The boy had been so kind to her the night before from what she remembered, which wasn't much due to her drowsy state. In fact, that very state had caused her to fall back to sleep shortly upon awaking. The last thing she remembered was seeing Ash's sweet, kind expression.

Now, however, she felt much better and very alive. She wanted to head over to the gym to prepare for her battle against Ash, just the thought of that battle excited her and made her get ready quicker. Now, speaking of the boy, he was still asleep in his bed. Well, supposedly, as Misty could hear grunts and whimpers that seemed to originate from him. Though a closer inspection showed that the noises were actually coming from Togepi, who was being held by Ash. But, this time she seemed to be trying to escape his arms. Her whimpers of 'Toto!' seemed to indicate that she wanted Misty.

Smiling softly, Misty carefully pried Ash's arms open so Togepi could release herself. Thankfully the boy didn't stir, she wanted to give him the chance to sleep in as payment for looking after her when she was poisoned. Picking up Togepi, Misty quickly wrote a note and left it on the counter. Walking towards the door, she smiled once again and turned back to whisper in her soft and sweet voice. "See you later, Ash..."

"Toge," the infant in her arms gave her little piece into the goodbye, before the water trainer silently closed the door with the softest of movements. The note she had left mentioned that she and Togepi had left to go to the gym, she didn't want him to worry about 'their' daughter. Picking up the pace, she left the Pokemon Center and smiled as she ran down the path to the Cerulean Gym. The speed caused Togepi to squeal out loudly, clearly enjoying it. She was that type of adventurous baby at the end of the day. "Toge-prii!"

"Alright, Togepi," Misty started, placing the little Pokemon down on the floor upon entering the gym. Off in the distance was a Aquarium and all the way behind that as a giant pool, which processed the same water as the aquarium as they flowed into one another - it was just a way for the water Pokemon to swim around when they struggled to survive in the water. Arriving at the gym pool, she smiled and released her Tentacool. "Have a good swim, Tentacool. Go and find Caserin for me, would you?"

Sitting down at the edge of the pool with the young Togepi at her side, she grinned with a mixture of happiness and relaxation. "The water feels so nice," she gently smiled, tapping her feet in and out of the brisk water. "I forgot what this place was like...ah, I loved growing up here..."

"Toge-toge-toge!" came the little and very adorable chatters from the Pokemon beside her, which Misty gave a warm smile at. She could tell that the infant also was enjoying the relaxation in the gym hall at the moment. Suddenly, the chatters changed into something more based on interest. "Toge?" the Pokemon dipped her tiny cream feet into the water, it wasn't too far from the surface and so she didn't fall in. She squealed in delight, giving the water trainer a chuckle.

"Lets have a bit of a swim, shall we, Togepi?" Making sure the coast was clear, the girl dived into the water and soon swam back to the surface to pick up the young Togepi. She gently swam out, holding the Spike Ball Pokemon above the water. She wanted to teach the infant to swim, if she was to be the baby's mother then she'd want her able to swim at least. Yet, she wouldn't attempt to start teaching without Ash's permission. It was his Pokemon at the end of the day, so she chose to just keep a close hold onto Togepi as she swam. Anyway, the little fairy type seemed to just enjoy being held in the water so it didn't seem to matter. "Do you like the wate-"

Not allowed to finish her sentence apparently, as a loud voice filled the room and echoed about. "Misty, you're back!" the tangerine haired girl turned in the water to see her eldest sister, Daisy, at the door of the gym part of the building. She seemed excited, if it wasn't evident already with her loud voice. And also very happy to see her little sister, it seemed. "You like barely told us that you were leaving and now you returned without like warning as well. What is like wrong with you, girl? Worrying your big sisters like that."

"Sorry, Daisy..." muttered Misty, as she swam back to the edge of the pool. Placing Togepi on the side first, she got out and did a bit of a shake to get rid of the excess water. She sat down, after picking Togepi back up. "I just wanted a breathe of fresh air, I love Cerulean and you love you three. But I felt a little...I don't know, pressured. You and the other two barely know how to battle so regardless of my status as a substitute, you were always handing me the responsibility. I thought that leaving for a bit might help you three realize that you can battle."

"Well, I suppose you are correct," her blonde haired sister responded as she sat next to Misty, she rubbed her hair awkwardly as she continued. "We were being quite overbearing, you're only 10 and yet we made you do all the battling..." she then spotted the adorable infant on Misty's lap and that seemed to take her mind off the topic. "What a darling little Togepi, is it your Pokemon?"

Misty was a little nervous, how to explain Togepi to her sister? Blushing mildly, she whispered. "No...she belongs to my friend, she's his starter Pokemon and is nearly always at his side. But he's asleep, I think, at the moment and so I decided to babysit. You see, Togepi kinda felts I'm her mommy...so she's more then happy to stay with me..."

"Uh huh," Daisy muttered, a sly grin on her face as she chose to tease her youngest sister. With a short sentence, it would be all she needed to get her sister nice and flustered. "Now, do you have a crush on this boy?"

Going from mild blushing to full-on red faced, Misty tried to deny the concept that her sister was spouting out. "No! No! No! I don't...I...don't like him in that sense! There's absolutely no way!..." she then frowned and looked down. "Besides, why would he return my feelings..."

"Now, you're being too harsh on yourself, Misty. Yeah, you're nothing like me and the others. But your beautiful in your own way, plus your very determined and one of the best battlers I've ever seen. And you always seem to enjoy yourself the most in the presence of water type Pokemon and the pool. I was watching you, you know, and you looked so relaxed. It was relaxing watching you."

"Aww...thank you, Daisy..." the girl smiled, nodding her head. Yeah, why should she get down. Besides, she needed to train. That was the whole point of coming here early.

Running to the end of the pool, Misty caught sight of Tentacool finally returning with Caserin. The Luvdisc was more then happy to see her, even jumping out of the water into her arms. "Hey there, Cas. How have you been, hows Luverin?"

"Luv-luvdisc!" the Pokemon squealed, before lunging backwards into the water and swimming quite deeply before turning around to look up at his trainer with a clear smile on his lips. He was soon joined by another Luvdisc, with a crown on her head. It was clear that this was Luverin, Caserin's mate. "Luvdisc-luv-disc!"

"Good for you, boy. Now, I just wanted to say 'Hi'. You and Luverin can continue what you were doing, alright?" Once the two Luvdisc swam away, Misty took a deep breathe and grinned. "Alright!" she threw out her other three Pokemon. Pikachu was straight on top of the pool, without many questions, as she surfed around on her tail. Daisy gave a gasp of awe when she saw the surfing Pikachu and gave Misty a thumbs up, indicating that the Pokemon was amazing and definitely allowed to be used.

"So, Misty. Why is it that you returned so soon anyway. With how you put it, I'm certain that you would have stayed away longer then this?" Daisy asked, watching the girl closely from the sitting area.

"Well, I was gonna," Misty started. She gently placed Togepi on the side of the pool, telling her to 'stay' and even gave the infant a cute little pacifier and bottle to keep her happy. "But, you see. Ash wanted to get the gym badge and when I told him the truth, he wanted to battle me specifically. So I just wanna make sure that the team is well prepared."

She swam to the center of the pool, being joined by her four main Pokemon. Keeping a close eye on Togepi, she looked at the four of them and decided on who to use. "Buizel, you're a little too under trained to handle a battle like this at the moment and we do 3-on-3. Is it alright for you to sit out, I'll let you have a swim in the pool/aquarium?"

"Bui-buizel," the Pokemon nodded, he understood. It hadn't been long since his capture and he knew that he wouldn't be much use at the moment, so he rapidly turned his tail into a spinning disk that acted like a propeller and sped off into the watery depths. All the other Pokemon began training under Misty's strict scheme, mastering moves and sometimes learning new ones: Pikachu learnt Thunderbolt for example.

"Alright! Good work, team," Misty smiled, as she swam over to Pikachu. The Pokemon was currently practicing her Electro Ball, she didn't launch them though due to how wet the surroundings was. It would be too dangerous really and Misty understood that, using an electric type in a water-based gym like this was a huge risk. But it was one that she was more then willing to take. "Alright, Pikachu. Lets get out of the water and we can go back to perfecting your Thunderbolt."

"Pika!" the electric type nodded, surfing to the edge of the pool in a much faster pace then her trainer's swimming.

Upon getting out, Misty quickly indicated to Togepi to follow and walked over to the driest area in the room. She set down a target and said. "Do 5 bolts onto the board, try to hit the red center," the Mouse Pokemon nodded and used Thunderbolt 5 times. Each one got closer and closer to the center until the very last one got 'bull's eye'. "Yeah, like that. That should improve your accuracy in battle, you'll be there to counter Ash's Zubat/Golbat depending on whether he's evolved her yet. I still need to ask him about that..."

"Alright, everyone!" she called, clapping her hands to get the nearby Pokemon's attention. Togepi and Pikachu were at her feet whilst Staryu and Tentacool were both in the pool. "Alright, here's the plan. Pikachu, you're to take on Zubat/Golbat with your electric advantage. Staryu, your job will be to handle Luxio as you have Reflect to block out his physical electric mark: Spark. And lastly; Tentacool, your opponent will be Breloom. With Acid Spray, you should be able to take him down rather quickly."

The unison cry showed evidence that they supported the plan, causing Misty to smile brightly. She often didn't prepare this hard for battles, but Ash wasn't gonna to be an easy opponent and she didn't want him to just sweep her without the counter. "Okay, everyone. Just keep practicing the moves I told you too, we may not win the battle later but I want to see that we've done our absolute best!"

Kneeling down, Misty soon picked Togepi back up and walked out of the main gym area. Steeping into the aquarium, she took deep breathes and smiled at all the water Pokemon. There were many, but some that she didn't recognize as they were brand new. One in particular stood out to her, a lone Gyarados. It was far towards the back of the cage in solitude, was it being left out or something? "Ah, so you spotted him," came Daisy's voice from beside her, causing her to near jump out of her skin. But she nodded upon calming down. "We obtained him shortly after you left, we wanted a Magikarp. But turns out that the one we obtained was nearing time for evolution and soon we had a Gyarados on our hands."

"I see...why is he all alone?"

"The other Pokemon don't like him, simple as. He's the odd one out, the largest of the pack yet also the newest in battling. He has yet to be used in any gym battle, as we can't tame his abilities. He has very powerful moves like Scald and Flamethrower at his command, but he cannot control them yet..." a deep sigh came from the blonde's lips as she continued. "He was supposed to be a birthday present for you...since it's obviously coming up in a couple of weeks, we had hoped to have trained him. But it seems impossible right now."

"Maybe I can help?" Misty inquired, she was a little nervous. Gyarados were probably one of the few water types that she didn't completely adore...in fact, she was near afraid of them. But really, who isn't? They're known as the Atrocious Pokemon for a reason.

"I was thinking the same, if you want then you can have him. Wouldn't recommend using him in your battle later though, like I said he's not trained yet," the woman breathed relief. "I'm so glad, he hasn't made any friends within the aquarium and maybe an adventure will do him good.."

"Wait, how did you know...that I was leaving again?" the tangerine haired 10 year old asked, looking up with surprise evident in her eyes. Even the young Togepi in her arms seemed surprise, though she seemed to be just imitating her mommy.

"It's kinda obvious really, you want to be with the boy that brings you happiness. And I get that you'd rather not stay here. Don't begin to feel like you have to stay 'cause of me and your other sisters, we want you to be free regardless of how the gym runs."

"Yeah...and thank you, Daisy."

* * *

Later that day, Ash had awoke and arrived at the gym. Now, he was standing at the end of the pool with Togepi at his feet. It was the opposite side to Misty, the girl was standing fierce and happy. Ash smiled, he had the plan to send out Luxio first. He hoped to beat through her water types as quickly as he could, so quickly he threw the lynx like Pokemon. There was a platform floating on the pool so they could use Pokemon that couldn't swim, Luxio roared loudly as Ash asked with a big smile on his face. "So, who you gonna use, Mist?"

"Well. Go, my steady Staryu!" the Pokemon burst out of the Pokemon and landed on yet another floating platform. The Star Pokemon seemed to be very patient, waiting for its trainer to give the go-forth. "Staryu, use Reflect!"

"Spark!" Ash yelled, as a thin screen formed about Staryu. Despite the obvious weakness, the reflects ability to block the physical attacking move was more effective and helped Staryu stay awake through the attacks. "Again and again!" Ash screamed, not liking Misty's intelligence all of a sudden.

"Staryu, use Scald!" boiling water was summoned in front of Staryu's gem and blasted through the reflect shield, luckily not getting the burn damage so Guts wasn't activated. Misty instantly realized her mistake and breathed with relief, her plan would need alteration. "Staryu, use Recover and then Psywave!" Staryu glowed brightly as green health was recovered, it then quickly sent a wave of very colorful light at the Luxio and shocked it quite a bit with the dead-on attack. Though, by this time, the reflect was wearing off.

Ash noticed this. "Now, use Spark! Finish it off before it can set up another reflect!" Luxio did as he was told, diving towards the Staryu in blue electrical light within literal seconds of the reflect dispersing. It was all that was required, Staryu was unevolved and just didn't have the defenses required to beat the high powered Luxio at the moment.

Taken aback, Misty had to think. Luxio must be weak, could Tentacool handle it? She would have to find out, it didn't matter for now. She just hoped for the best and threw out the water/poison type. "Use Bubble Beam, he should be too weak to battle now!" The Tentacool did has he was told, blowing a beam of bubbles at the Luxio before Ash could even think to yell 'Spark' or 'Iron Tail'. The bubbles burst around the Luxio and caused it to faint.

"Have a good rest, Luxio..." Ash whispered, rapidly recalling the Luxio before sending out his Breloom, who prepared himself as quickly as he could possible do. It didn't take long before Ash was yelling again. "Alright, Breloom. Lets start of with Bullet Seed!"

"Bre-breloom!" the Pokemon yelled, summoning little seeds and spitting at the Tentacool as he dived over the pool and onto Misty's respective platform. He grinned, showing his power off. He just kept up the seed spitting, until he ran out.

When that happened, Misty took her chances and yelled out. "Use Acid Spray!" Tentacool shot the purple poison at the Breloom, it didn't faint but you could see the red glow of his special defense stat being lowered. "Again and again!" Misty kept trying, though Breloom dodged the second one and survived on minimum health for the third one.

"Now, use Seed Bomb!" Ash screeched, he was near losing it. He wanted to win so badly, he was lucky that his Pokemon could still understand him though. Breloom built up a giant seed and threw it at the Tentacool. It was enough to faint it upon the massive explosion. Water splattered everywhere, not that the Pokemon minded at all. Togepi was enjoying herself in the water, giggling all the way.

"Alright, Tentacool. Return!" Misty called, before looking at her final poke ball. Smiling, she threw it out. Pikachu came flying out and soon was surfing on the watery field. "Alright, Pikachu. It's weak, use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu's electric sacs glowed and sparked, a massive electrical bolt burst from those very cheeks and slammed into the Breloom. With the two special defense drops from earlier, it's previous low health and the lack of preparation, Breloom simply fainted and was replaced with Ash's last hope, Golbat. Zuzu flew into the air, screeching at the low volume. "Alright, Pikachu. Thunder shock!"

A small click could be heard from Ash's side, as Golbat looked at him with interested eyes. He was holding a sign that spoke out use Steel Wing in bright, bold colors that anyway with primary intellect should be able to make out. Wings of steel, that's what her trainer wanted then that's what she would do. Zooming at the opponent, wings glowing a bright metallic. Golbat slammed into the Pikachu, a Pokemon with naturally weak defenses. So, even with the Thunder Shock and paralysis effect, Golbat still won after only a few Steel Wings. She breathed and flew back to her trainer, before hugging him close. She evolved for him and now she won a battle for him! She felt so happy, something that caused the rapid and almost instantaneous evolving into Crobat. Ash grinned, he already had a Pokemon at their third stage in evolution. But that didn't matter, he needed to ask the obvious question to Misty. "Well, do I get my badge, Mist?"

"You beat me so of course..." came Misty's soft reply, as she recalled her Pikachu. She had an excellent throw, so was able to just hurl it over the pool and straight into Ash's hand. It was shaped like a tear-drop, something expected from a water gym. Misty saw him inspecting it and spoke softly. "The Cerulean City's badge, the Cascade Badge!" yet, despite her explanation, her eyes didn't seem to meet his. No, they were focused on the water below. "Ash, give me a few minutes," he nodded though unsure as she suddenly dived into the water upon returning Pikachu.

"What?..." he questioned, but he was more stunned about 10 minutes later. Wait, how did she breathe under water for ten minutes, he'd never know. But, basically, 10 minutes later. She reappeared, on the crest of a Gyarados. The intimidating Pokemon roared at everyone, yet it seemed to nearly trust her exclusively. To calm Ash's confusion, Misty was sure to explain what was going on. She explained that Gyarados was her Pokemon, considered to be an early birthday present as everyone believed that she would be the only one able to tame his amazing strength. But then she asked something, more important to Gyarados. "Oh, you mean how I work about Zuzu's deafness?"

Ash chuckled, calling Crobat over. Carefully, he pointed to clip attached to the ear of the bat. "It's connected to this," he held out a small controller with a single red bottom. "With the tap of the bottom, it sends a small electric shock. There's no pain, it just stuns her and causes her to look at the post-cards that I use. It's the solution that Professor Oak came up with when I asked him about how to potentially deal with a deaf Pokemon."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Misty smiled, gently petted the Crobat. "It'll make Zuzu able to understand commands without the use of a voice, though it could become awkward in a few gyms so be cautious when using her."

"I already understand that. Besides, if it works against you then I think I'll manage..." Misty gave a small smile to this sentence, yeah Ash was that kind of boy. He could plow his way through anything, she was near sure of it. Whatever happens, happens. She supposed, but she smiled at her Gyarados. She had a new friend to join with her, admitting one of triple the size of her other four Pokemon. But none of that mattered. Only the journey did.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, it's basically the gym battle with Misty with additional features...

Update: Fixed the mix-up with Zuzu's evolutions. I had forgotten that Crobat was the third evolution, not the second and attempted to correct it but missed a couple it seems. And fixed the grammar error of 'Your' to 'you're'

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Luxio (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Breloom (Male)(Shiny)

Crobat (Nickname: Zuzu)(Female)*Deaf*

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

Gyarados (Male)

 _Cerulean gym_

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)


	10. Taming the beast

After their battle, the two pre-teens had planned to continue their journey. But there was a hold up, Misty had been asked to battle another trainer. And yes, it was definitely her who was asked. Apparently, despite the short time span, the male trainer had discovered about Misty's Gyarados and wanted to battle it desperately. He didn't leave until Misty agreed to, which put their plans on hold. Ash didn't mind though, he couldn't wait to watch the battle as Gyarados had been stated as a powerful water/flying type that knew Flamethrower of all things.

Signing, Misty walked up to the giant Pokemon. He was resting within the pool, allowing her to scan him with her pokedex. Waiting, she gently reached up to see if the Pokemon would allow her to pet his crest. It didn't seem to work though. Yeah, he trusted her enough to be his trainer but it wouldn't be enough just yet to allow her to pet him. Finally, the poke dex clicked and she listened calmly.

 **Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokemon. There are people who swear that any place Gyarados appears is fated for destruction. This particular Gyarados is male with the ability Intimidate. He knows the moves Flamethrower, Scald, Bite, Thrash, Leer, Twister, Ice Fang, Aqua Tail and Bounce.**

"Intimidate, huh...as expected from you, Gyarados," Misty whispered, filled with mix of hope and worry. She was taking a huge risk by using Gyarados so soon, he wasn't trained and could react violently without warning. "'Fated for destruction', you wouldn't destroy the gym, would you?" she was so worried, literally anything could happen in the battle and that left her more then frightened. The Pokemon roared, seemingly saying that he would never do that. But when a Pokemon has this much strength without the training to control them, it couldn't work to just make promises. "Oh well, lets just do our best. It's a one on one, he's using a Vileplume if I remember correctly."

* * *

The battle started, poetically enough, with the simple exchanges of victory from the two trainers. The Vileplume's trainer's name was Steven, he was a determined young man with huge wishes and had trouble controlling himself. After the exchange, Misty felt even more unsure as she stood before her Gyarados. But putting on a brave face, she began the match with the loud scream. "Gyarados, Flamethrower!"

Gyarados' mouth burst open, flames jetted out in all directions. Caught in the crossfire a bit, Misty's arm got a little burnt. Yet, she hid the limp arm behind her back despite the minor pain. She knew some pain was to be expected, Gyarados couldn't control himself. "Vileplume, Sleep Powder!" she could hear Steven yell above the noise of Gyarados' roars and the flicking flames. It didn't take long before the powder covered the water field and put Gyarados to nearly fall asleep, she hadn't expected something like this.

"Gyarados? Gyarados, please. Wake up!" she yelled, more frightened then before. Would the battle end, just like that? But then she noticed, Gyarados was fighting to stay awake. How to snap him out of drowsiness?...How...how how! Of course, an idea burst into her head and she yelled. "Use Scald on yourself, Gyarados!" The blue serpent looked back at her with shock and a face that screamed 'are you insane, woman', but did as he was told. The boiling water burnt his scales a bit and gave the wake-up call that was desperately wanted."Now, use Ice Fang!"

"Vileplume, Giga Drain!" Steven called at the same time, the Pokemon collided with another. As Gyarados bite harshly with icy fangs, he could feel his energy being drained faster and faster. He could nearly see the green energy being drained from his body and he sent him angry. Very angry!

He roared louder then before, enough to cause Misty to near jump out of her bikini and skin. "Gyarados?" she whispered, unsure. But then...he used a move without the command, Twister. A mediumly-sized cyclone filled the pool, water being pulled into it due to the heavy force. Misty, herself, was being pulled into the attack and Vileplume got dragged into the water. With a quick movement, Gyarados' large jaws were biting down on the poor grass type. "Gyarados!" Misty screamed, trying to get control of her Pokemon. It had been too soon...

Nothing seemed to work and it became worse...when the Pokemon decided that using Flamethrower again would be a good idea in his agitated state. Flames burst around, burning everything to a crisp. Even the pool was a-light with flames, the water evaporating in the hot heat and forming stream that brought the atmosphere to a boil. Misty was absolutely shocked, she then yelled. "Steven, get out of there!"

Her yelling was in time too, as Gyarados' thrashing broke out the diving board and sent it flying...landing straight when the boy had once been. Misty didn't want to, but with a loud scream. "Gyarados, return!" the poke ball flashed as Gyarados was pulled into it, but that wouldn't fix the state of the gym. The pool had been evaporated and flames dispersed across the floor. Her burns had even gotten worse due to the extra flames, and she still needed to get rid of them. She could hear Ash's cries of worry but paid no mind. She quickly grabbed the extinguisher and got rid of the flames, before collapsing to the ground. Steven had been lucky, having been down-wind of the flames and thus less smoke and heat effected him. But Misty was up-wind...receiving all the frightening effects and some serious burns on her left arm.

Ash ran over to her, taking ahold of her arm. "This is serious, Misty...you need to get this check-out," he helped her back up as she tried to breathe as the smoke dispersed. She looked rather faint, leading him to help her stay standing and walk away from the smoking. "Come on, we should have you lay down for a bit after we get back to the Pokemon center. Sorry, Steven but the match is called off. We can't have the gym leader feeling ill and becoming injured due to her Pokemon going out of the control.

Steven nodded, and allowed the two to leave the smoke-filled room. The last thing he said was that he would come back in a couple of days to receive the gym badge, hoping that Gyarados would be under control then. They arrived downstairs, lucky that the fire and evaporation hadn't effected the aquarium much. Cold air brushed across Misty's face and made her feel quite a bit better already, she sat down next to the cold wall and sighed. "I can't travel with a untamed Pokemon like that, Ash..." she whispered, worried.

"Sure you can, isn't that the whole point of training? To make a untamed Pokemon tamed and powerful. Able to control their powers and help their trainers battle, all Gyarados needs is some good training. It was risky to use him this early anyway," the boy responded with a smile, Togepi was giving her little cries of support during the all statement. Even bouncing out of her daddy's arms at one point to sit on Misty's shoulder and pat her head with a giant, toothy - wait what? - smile. As Misty's brain tried to catch up with a single tooth sticking up from Togepi's bottom lip, Ash continued. "How about we began our training after fixing up the gym and your arm up, take a long break of fresh air and just train our Pokemon."

A small smile broke onto Misty's lips, as she whispered. "Thank you, Ash. Now...I need to question something..." he prompted her to continue, which lead her to lift up Togepi and point to the little tooth. "Did you know about this?"

"Huh? She's teething, already? She's only a few weeks old...I suppose Pokemon babies develop faster then human ones..." Ash muttered with intrigue, taking Togepi into his hands to take a closer look at the pristine white tooth.

"Your telling me..." came the reply, Misty's expression was still trying to get used to the fact Togepi's teeth were coming in. "Maybe it's a sign that she'll evolve soon, she's one of those Pokemon that evolve through friendship after all. And all you've given her since her birth has been friendship, well parental friendship anyway. I'm sure it won't be too much longer."

A small chuckle left Ash's lips, as he reached over to hold her hand in his own. He was smiling brightly, as he held Togepi in his other hand. "Well, we'll just have to wait to see that happen. Come on, we should get to fixing the gym back up."

"Uh huh..." Misty's soft voice left her lips, as she got back up. Her arms still ached, but what could she really do about a couple of burns. Lucky for her, Ash dipped a piece of cloth into a nearby small tank before wrapping it around her arm. It soothed her arm quite a bit, as she looked back up at the raven haired boy with a bright smile adorn her lips. "Thanks..."

They arrived back upstairs, most of the smoke had dispersed. But many of the surfaces were covered in ash and the pool still needed to be refilled. "Alright," she picked up a brush and threw it towards Ash, who caught it with some struggle. "Clean up some of the ashes...I'll handle refilling the pool," she was already at the end of the pool when he looked up at her once more, though his eyes still wandered away from her eyes as she looked stunning in the light of the gym.

The boy nodded and began work on clearing away the ashes. Misty smiled, calling out her beloved Staryu. "Alright, Staryu. Use Water Gun, help me refill the pool," the progression of refilling the pool was quite slow though, she had to come up with another option. "Alright, come on out, my steadies!" she threw out Pikachu, Tentacool and Buizel. "Alright, Pikachu. Use Surf, I know you can summon water when required. Tentacool, use Water Pulse. And Buizel, Waterfall!"

The combo power of the four water type moves filled the pool up in no time, allowing Misty to smile. Ash had also finished the clean-up work of the floor, so the gym looked more or less clean once more. Walking over, Ash had an intrigued expression as Buizel's last drops of Waterfall splattered into the pool. The other three's moves had already headed. Togepi was at his feet, an adorable smile on her face as she looked like she wanted to play in the water again. "To think your Buizel has Waterfall, quite a powerful move, Mist."

"Well, I did some training before our battle...but Buizel was just not used in the match, still taught him Waterfall though. I'm the substitute gym leader, I need powerful moves on my Pokemon. Besides, it wasn't too hard to get him to turn Water Gun into Waterfall."

"I guess that's true, well. How about we get to training. Gyarados needs to learn to tame his Flamethrower, but it's not safe to attempt to indoors. Lets go back over to Mt Moon, the rocky interior should block any overspread of fire."

* * *

They soon arrived within the large caverns of Mt Moon, Misty was holding Gyarados' poke ball close to her chest, as she looked over to Ash and Togepi. "Ash...who are you gonna use?"

"Oh, that's simple. Ponyta, she's a fire type and wouldn't get super effective damage from a fire type attack," came his reply, with a grin on his face. He threw out his Ponyta and waited patiently for Misty to do the same.

"Alright..." throwing out Gyarados, Misty was still really nervous. Gyarados' power was so untamed, it could be dangerous even within a place like Mt Moon. But, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Ash back as far away from Ponyta. ' _Good thinking..._ ' she thought, smiling. "Alright, Gyarados. We're training now, so can we try to tame your flames?"

A roar erupted from his lips, he was in agreement. Soon a burst of fire left the same mouth, hitting Ponyta. Though a lot of the flames were absorbed into her mane -despite her ability being Flame Body, she still had the ability to absorb the majority of flames. Not all, but most - she still felt a little bit of damage though. Having Ponyta battle Gyarados' Flamethrower was the best option, indeed. It was working out perfectly, nearly causing Misty to jump in joy as she called out. "Alright, keep it up!"

Soon enough, Gyarados' flames came less and less dispersed. They were controlled, aiming straight for the opponent like how Misty wanted them to be. She ran over to hug the scaly side of the water/flying type with a bright, cute smile adorn on her lips. All Ash could do was think of how adorable she was, he certainly loved the way she was. An adorable tomboy with a aura of beauty, it was all he could want her to be. Any different and she'd feel out of place. But he couldn't let his crush effect the training, he could tell her much later how he felt. "Looking good, Mist. Flamethrower has been tamed from the looks of it."

"Yeah. Thanks, Ash," she gave a soft smile, before noticing his slightly confused expression. Chuckling, she continued to explain what she meant by her 'thanks'. "For helping me with my Pokemon and my gym, dummy."

"Oh right,...I'm suppose I am a bit of a 'dummy'..."

Togepi, who had been sitting on the floor nearby, began to laugh at her daddy. She seemed to understand what was going on for a change, she even began to give out little cries. "Toge-toge-toge. Toge-to!" she got up and ran over to Ash, hugging his leg adorably. Misty smiled, going over after recalling Gyarados. Upon seeing the tangerine haired girl, the little Spike Ball gave an another cry. "Toto!"

Misty reached down and picked up Togepi, ruffling the little spikes on the Pokemon's head. "Good girl, Togepi. Calling her daddy a 'dummy'," a squeal of delight left the young Pokemon's mouth, she liked being praised. "Good girl, good girl."

"Don't call her a 'good girl' for that," Ash sulked, only eliciting a chuckle from both Misty and Togepi. Suddenly, said Pokemon's eyes began to glow and Ash became rather frightened. "Did...she..." he began to glow himself and float into the air. "She did."

"Ash!" Misty cried out, nervously. She looked down at Togepi, was the Spike Ball using Psychic? "Put him down, Togepi. Carefully..."

"Ge toto!" she seemed to be complaining, but she did as she was told after she received a stern look from Misty. She wasn't going to disobey her mommy at the end of the day. Ash landed back on the ground with a frown on his face, even though he was happy that his Pokemon had learnt a move like Psychic on her own. How, he wanted to know however.

"How did she learn that?...I didn't intend to teach her own to use 'Psychic'?"

A nod came from Misty, but then a look of realization hit her. She soon explained why she looked like that, with a apologetic look on her face. "My...Staryu has Psychic and during the time before you arrived, Togepi was around Staryu a lot. Do you think that Staryu may have taught her how to use the move?"

"Quite possibly, but you don't need to look sorry for it. I mean, I probably would have taught her how to use moves like Psychic and maybe Shadow Ball when she evolved into Togetic anyway. Wait...does your Staryu know Shad-" his question was answered before he could finish, as a shadowy ball was summoned between Togepi's tiny arms. "Never mind, she answered for you..."

"To think she has both Shadow Ball and Psychic, if she evolves before you reach Saffron City...then you could..."

"Use her to battle Sabrina's Kadabra and Alakazam, they're very powerful and without a effective dark type or ghost type...Yes, it could potentially work. I'm hoping Luxio will have either Bite or Crunch by then and using Shadow Ball as well..."

"You could win without much hassle!" Misty finished for him, handing him the baby Pokemon with a bright smile on her face. "Sounds like a plan to me. Though, from what I know. Sabrina also uses a Venomoth and a Mr Mime, you may need different Pokemon for those two. Lucky the battle is a four-v-four or you may have a struggle with just two Pokemon."

"Don't you worry, Ponyta can handle Venomoth and I'm sure Iron Tail can handle the Mr Mime."

"Good point, though you gotta get through at least Lt Surge first."

"Yeah, Lt Surge. I'm hoping to use Luxio for that, he can learn Double Team which could help me quite a bit. That and Flash. Plus, Lt Surge's Raichu has Static. But electric types can't be paralyzed so I'll have the benefit of not activating the Pokemon's ability. Breloom can also help out, using his ability Poison Heal to help out. All I gotta do is poison himself.."

"Good plans, well. I believe we should head back to the gym, Steven said he'll be back in a few days after all."

* * *

And that day came soon enough, his and Misty's rematch began. She felt she could control Gyarados now, they can continued training and Flamethrower had gotten to the point where they were control how much fire would be sent out. "Alright, Steven. Your gym badge is on the line here, so you have to beat my Gyarados' Flamethrower!"

"I know, I heard that you've been taming him so you can rematch me safely," the boy said, sending out his Vileplume. "So, do we begin?" once the nod began, he called out. "Sleep Powder!"

Misty knew this trick and how to fix it, though she knew Gyarados didn't really like the scalds. "Use Scald on yourself, Gyarados!" she called out, as Sleep Powder hit him and made him drowsy. With a slash of boiling water, he was awake again and ready to battle. "A medium Flamethrower!"

A controlled and tamed amount of fire left the Gyarados' mouth, aiming straight for the Vileplume. It wasn't quick enough to dodge, something that it's species wasn't known for doing anyway. Burns rippled across it's giant poisonous petals, charring them a raven black. "Don't mind, don't mind, Vileplume!" Steven's voice came with a confident aura. "Use Giga Drain!"

"Use Ice Fang!" this was the exact same situation as before, would the match end the same way? No, she mentally shook her head, it won't! Gyarados' jaw tightened and ice coated his teeth, as he lunged forward. As a large splash of water covered the room, he bit down on Vileplume's petals as Giga Drain began to sap away his energy. But he held on. "Gyarados, Flamethrower!" Misty suddenly yelled, the icy fangs melted away as fire burst from his lips. At the close range, there was almost nothing that the Vileplume could do.

Somehow though, it held on through the attack. It looked weak, but it continued to give off a happy smile. "Alright, Vileplume. Use Energy Ball!" a ball of green light was summoned, shooting towards the Gyarados. Misty gasped, she hadn't even thought of a counter plan for this happening when the grassy ball hit her Atrocious Pokemon dead on. With his weakened energy, it was all that the Vileplume needed to knock out Gyarados and win the match.

Misty sighed, recalling Gyarados to his poke ball with a luminescent smile. "Good work, Gyara. Take a good rest," she seemed to have a nickname for the giant Pokemon now, granted it wasn't a thrilling nickname but it was something. She dived into the pool and swam over to the other side, not seeing the point in walking around the side. She rested her arms on the side of the pool, before reaching up to present the Cascade Badge to the boy. "Good work, Steven. You have earned this, to think your Vileplume didn't faint after that second Flamethrower is astounding. You should be really be proud of it."

"I am," the boy smiled, holding up the teardrop shaped badge. "I'll treasure this," he then turned to Ash, who had walked over. "I'll see you in the Pokemon League, Ash. I won't lose."

"Neither will I, so bring it on."

A chuckle left Misty's lips, smiling at the two lads. That would be a battle that she wanted to see. She got out of the pool and smiled, ushering Steven. "You should go and heal Vileplume, it gotta be weak now."

The young boy nodded, running out of the gym. Ash smiled. "That was a good battle, Misty. Looks like you've tamed Gyara now."

"Wait, you heard that nickname?..."

"Of course, Mist. It's cute that you nicknamed him," he chuckled, helping out of the pool. "I think it's a sweet nickname, despite how powerful and fierce Gyarados are usually seen."

Giving a small smile, Misty nodded. Well, now that the gym battle was out of the way, she and Ash could return to their journey. Ah, she couldn't wait! She loved traveling with Ash, even though it had only been a few weeks right now. She wanted to be with him forever.

* * *

Alright, I bet the source of Gyarados' nickname is quite obvious. But oh well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was in the making for a long time, I just didn't know what to write for it...

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Luxio (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Breloom (Male)(Shiny)

Crobat (Nickname: Zuzu)(Female)*Deaf*

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

Gyarados (Nickname: Gyara)(Male)

 _Cerulean gym_

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)


End file.
